Peru issues alert after powerful quake off Russian coast

One of the world’s strongest earthquakes struck Russia’s Far East early Wednesday (July 30), an 8.8-magnitude tremor that set off a tsunami in the northern Pacific region and prompted warnings for Alaska, Hawaii and south toward New Zealand.Tsunami warning sirens blared Tuesday in Honolulu and people moved to higher ground.

The Japan Meteorological Agency said a first tsunami wave of about 30 centimeters reached Nemuro on the eastern coast of Hokkaido.

Damage and evacuations were reported in the Russian regions nearest the quake’s epicenter on the Kamchatka Peninsula.

The first tsunami wave hit the coastal area of Severo-Kurilsk, the main settlement on Russia’s Kuril Islands in the Pacific, according to the local governor Valery Limarenko. He said residents were safe and staying on high ground until the threat of a repeat wave was gone.

The quake at 8:25 am Japan time had a preliminary magnitude of 8.0, Japan and US seismologists said. The US Geological Survey later updated its measurement to 8.8 magnitude and the USGS said the quake occurred at a depth of 20.7 kilometers.

The quake was about 119 kilometers away from the Russian city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, which has a population of 180,000, on the Kamchatka Peninsula.