A HUGE earthquake has struck the coast of Russia – strong enough to cause tsunamis, with warnings issued for the Pacific Islands.
The magnitude 8.7 earthquake struck off Russia’s Kamchatka on Wednesday, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
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It occurred about 84 miles off Kamchatska at around 7.24pm EST (12:30am BST).
The quake was shallow and strong enough to cause waves or a tsunami.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the earthquake was at a depth of 19.3 km (12 miles).
A tsunami with a wave height of 3-4 metres was recorded in Kamchatka, Russia’s regional minister for emergency situations warned.
Vladimir Solodov, Governor of the Kamchatka Territory, told people to stay away from the coast due to the earthquake being the “strongest in decades”.
No injuries have been reported so far, but a nursery has been damaged.
Locals in the small town of Severo-Kurilsk are being evacuated.
“Today’s earthquake was serious and the strongest in decades of tremors,” Kamchatka Governor Vladimir Solodov said in a video posted on the Telegram messaging app.
Shortly after the quake hit, another struck the Kamchatka Peninsula with a magnitude of 5.51.
Tsunami warnings have been issued for Alaska, Hawaii, Russia and Japan as a result.
The Japan Weather Agency said it expected a tsunami of one meter (3.28 feet) to reach large coastal areas starting at around 10am local time.
Authorities warned people not to go into the sea and stay away from the coast.
The U.S. Tsunami Warning System also issued a warning of “hazardous tsunami waves” within the next three hours along some coasts of Russia and Japan.
It comes after The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre warned of a tsunami threat to Russia following three earthquakes last week – with the strongest having a magnitude of 7.4.
The largest quake up until now hit around 89 miles east of east of the Russian city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky – 12 miles below the seabed.
A slightly smaller earthquake of 6.7 struck just minutes earlier, along with a third 5.0 magnitude quake.
There were fears Hawaii would also be impacted – but an island-wide tsunami warning was later withdrawn.
Alerts were also issued for Guam and American Samoa.
The USGS had warned of possible “hazardous tsunami waves” within 300 kilometres of the epicentre in the Pacific.
And residents in Russia had been urged to get to higher ground.
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What is a tsunami and what causes them?
TSUNAMIS are incredibly powerful natural disasters, where a tower of water surges towards land and leaves devastating levels of destruction in its wake.
The killer waves can reach up to 100ft and are capable of decimating towns – here we look at what a tsunami is and how to survive one.
A tsunami, also called a seismic wave, is a series of waves caused by the movement of a large body of water.
They are mostly caused by earthquakes at the boundaries of tectonic plates, deep under water.
The movement of the plates at their boundaries cause a dramatic reaction in the water above which result in large waves.
Seemingly harmless waves can sometimes only be 30cm high in the open ocean, so go unnoticed by sailors.
But as it reaches shallower waters, the wave is slowed and the top of it moves faster than the bottom, causing the sea to dramatically rise.
This wall of water can be strong enough to push boulders and collapse buildings, destroying entire areas on the coast.
Also called tidal waves, tsunami means “big wave in the port” in Japanese – coined by fishermen after they returned to shore to find their villages devastated by a giant wave they had not seen at sea.
Tsunamis can cause the sea levels to rise by as much as 30 metres, although they usually cause a rise averaging three metres.
Most tsunamis – about 80 per cent – take place within the Pacific Ocean’s “Ring of Fire” where the plates are extremely active movers and cause frequent earthquakes.
A tsunami can be formed in a number of different ways but usually there are three things that have to happen.
An earthquake must measure at least 7.0 on the Richter scale, this moves the water with enough force to build the tsunami wave at sea.
Secondly the sea bed must be lifted or lowered by the earthquake, this is often where the earth’s tectonic plates meet which allows the movement.
Finally, the epicentre of the earthquake must be close to the Earth’s surface, meaning the quake can impact things on the surface rather than deep in the earth’s crust.
Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, underwater explosions, landslides, meteorite impacts and other disturbances above or below water can potentially generate a tsunami.
While normal waves are caused by the winds as well as the moon and the sun, a tsunami is always caused by the displacement of a large body of water.
The term tidal wave is technically incorrect as tsunamis are not impacted by the tidal pull at all.
As the wave builds, travelling towards land, the height builds from the faster movement at the top of the wave.
This continues to pull in water until it crashes, unleashing destruction in its path.
Retreating sea water on the coast is one of the major warning signs that a tsunami is about to hit, although it only gives a warning of about five minutes.
