A massive 8.7 magnitude earthquake struck the coastal region of Russia’s far eastern Kamchatka Peninsula, prompting tsunami warnings across several countries.
According to reports, ocean waves as high as 13 feet were recorded in Kamchatka this morning. Japan and the entire western coast of the United States have also been placed under warnings for potentially hazardous waves.
Kamchatka Governor Vladimir Solodov described the earthquake in a Telegram video post as “the most powerful in decades.”
Hawaii’s Honolulu Emergency Management Department has called for evacuations in some coastal areas, warning of the possibility of “destructive tsunami waves.”
Japanese authorities have forecasted waves up to 10 feet high in their coastal regions.
According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the epicenter of the 8.7 magnitude quake was located 136 kilometers (85 miles) east of the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.
Following the main quake, aftershocks of magnitude 6.9 and 6.3 were also recorded—147 kilometers from Petropavlovsk and 131 kilometers southeast of Vilyuchinsk, respectively.
