Magnitude 8.8 Earthquake Off Russia’s East Coast Triggers Tsunami Warnings

What Happened?

Yesterday a magnitude 8.8 earthquake struck off the eastern coast of Russia, centered near Kamchatka. The quake triggered tsunami warnings for Japan, Hawaii, Alaska, and the western coast of the United States including California. 

Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov issued a statement saying the early warning systems in Kamchatka worked properly and thankfully there have been no fatalities reported from the quake. Tsunami waves reached Hawaii early Wednesday morning, but only minor flooding had been reported by daybreak. Tsunami waves also hit Japan, forcing nearly two million people to evacuate.

Why it Matters

The earthquake near Kamchatka was the sixth largest ever recorded, and the most powerful quake since 2011. The 2011 earthquake triggered tsunamis that hit Japan, damaging the Fukushima nuclear plant causing the subsequent release of radioactive material. Because of the high level of intensity of the Kamchatka quake, it triggered tsunami warnings across most of the Pacific Ocean, making it a global event.

Kamchatka is a remote and sparsely populated portion of eastern Russia, which likely contributed to the low number of fatalities. There are several villages and towns in the Kamchatka region, but no major cities or large urban centers. Most of the area is comprised of uninhabited forest or steppe land. 

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Tsunami is a word which means a large wave, and earthquakes often generate tsunamis when they take place beneath the seafloor. Throwing stones in a pond will cause ripples in the water to spread out from the point of impact, and the same principle applies to earthquakes. Quakes often cause the seafloor to rise or fall over hundreds of miles, which means the stone in the water is huge which makes the ripples very big. Those big ripples are tsunamis. 

For people on the ocean’s surface, the waves generated by earthquakes are often not as severe and can even pass by without notice. But when the waves hit landfall, they can cause a massive inland flow of water, causing widespread flooding and damage. In December of 2004 a magnitude 9.1 earthquake in the Indian Ocean triggered tsunamis up to one hundred feet high, which caused devastation in Thailand and other locations in the Pacific. 

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, a tsunami height of ten to thirteen feet was recorded in Kamchatka, two feet on Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido, while tsunami waves about 2 to 5 feet high reached San Francisco early Wednesday.

How it Affects You

For those on the west coast of the United States, tsunami warnings remain in effect as of Wednesday morning. As an example, Camp Pendleton, a large U.S. Marine base in California, placed nearby beaches off limits to its personnel for the remainder of Wednesday.