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An 8.8-magnitude earthquake, followed by multiple powerful aftershocks, struck off the Kamchatka Peninsula on Wednesday, triggering tsunami alerts across several coastal regions in the northern Pacific, RT reported.
The jolt, which occurred around 11:30am local time approximately 136 kilometers southeast of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, was the strongest earthquake in the area since 1952, RT reported citing the Geophysical Service of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
The first tsunami waves have already reached the shoreline of Severo-Kurilsk, a town in the northern Kuril Islands. Local authorities ordered the evacuation of the town’s population to elevated areas away from the coast, according to RT.
Waves measuring around 30 centimeters were also observed along the coastline of Hokkaido in northern Japan, according to NHK, with authorities warning that subsequent waves could be higher.
The US National Tsunami Warning Center has issued a tsunami advisory for the entire US West Coast, as well as parts of Canada and Alaska. Tsunami advisories are also in effect for the entire state of Hawaii.
A tsunami with a height of 3-4 metres (10-13 feet) was recorded in parts of Kamchatka, said Sergei Lebedev, regional minister for emergency situations, urging people to move away from the shoreline, Reuters reported.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the earthquake was shallow at a depth of 19.3 km (12 miles), and was centred 119 km (74 miles) east-southeast of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, a city of 165,000. It revised the magnitude up from 8.0 earlier, and reported a strong aftershock of magnitude 6.9 soon after, according to Reuters.
Japan's weather agency upgraded its warning, saying it expected tsunami waves of up to 3 metres (10 feet) to reach large areas of its coast.
Tsunami alarms sounded in coastal towns across Japan's Pacific coast with authorities urging people to seek higher ground.