Tokyo – The Japanese Meteorological Agency has published a tsunami alert for the Japanese Pacific coast, improving a previous opinion arising from the powerful 8.0 magnitude earthquake which struck on Wednesday morning near the Kamchatka peninsula in Russia.
The agency issued an opinion from a tsunami up to 3 meters through the Japanese Pacific coast, perhaps starting to arrive along the northern coasts in less than half an hour after the alert.
A tsunami warning has also been extended to Hawaii, the Tsunami warning center of the National Weather Service saying that a tsunami had been generated which could cause damage along the coasts of all the Hawaiian islands.
“Urgent measures should be taken to protect lives and property,” said the warning. The first waves were expected around 7 p.m. local time.
The Japanese meteorological agency said that the earthquake had taken place at 8:25 am and had recorded a preliminary scale of 8.0. The earthquake was around 160 miles from Hokkaido, in northern Japan, the four large islands of the country, and it was only felt slightly, according to NHK television in Japan.
US Geological Survey said it had reached a depth of 12 miles. The USGC said shortly after the initial information that the earthquake strength was 8.7 magnitude.
The Russian news agency Tass reported in the largest city nearby, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, which many people have run in the street without shoes or outdoor clothes. The cabinets overturned inside the houses, the mirrors were broken, the cars were sworn in the street and the balconies on the buildings were essentially shaken.
TASS also reported power failures and mobile telephony service failures in the capital of the Kamchatka region.
The National Tsunami Warning Center, based in Alaska, has issued a Tsunami warning for certain parts of the Alaska Alawish islands and surveillance for certain parts of the west coast, including California, Oregon and Washington, as well as Hawaii.
The opinion also includes a large strip of Alaska coastlines, including games of The Panhandle.
The Japanese government said it had set up a working group for collecting information and the response in an emergency. Tokyo University seismologist Shinichi Sakai told NHK that a distant earthquake could cause a tsunami that affects Japan if his epicenter is shallow.
Japan, which is part of the region known as Pacific Ring of Fire, is one of the most subject to world in the world.
Five powerful earthquakes – the largest with a magnitude of 7.4 – struck in the sea near Kamchatka this month. The biggest earthquake, at a depth of 20 kilometers, was about 90 miles east of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, which has 180,000 inhabitants.
On November 4, 1952, an earthquake of magnitude 9.0 in Kamchatka caused damage, but no death reported, even if it sparked 30 feet waves in Hawaii.