OAHU, Hawaii — Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said officials observed water receding by 20 to 30 feet (6 to 9 meters) at Haleiwa Harbor on Oahu, the state’s most populous island, an indication that tsunami waves will arrive. The waves pulling out left boats to lay on dry rock and sand. “That gave us pause,” Green said.
So far, no damage has been recorded, but it will take two to three hours of observation before authorities will be able to determine whether the event has passed, Green said.
Authorities in a number of small island nations in the South Pacific Ocean urged people to stay away from coastlines, familiarize themselves with evacuation routes and await further guidance from officials, but did not order evacuations.
Some tiny and low-lying Pacific island chains are among the world’s most imperiled by tsunamis and rising seas.
Cautions to stay away from beaches until any wave surges passed late Wednesday were issued by officials in Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Federated States of Micronesia and Solomon Islands.
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A tsunami hit coastal areas of Russia’s Kuril Islands and Japan’s large northern island of Hokkaido after a powerful, 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Russia early Wednesday. Warnings are also in place for Alaska, Hawaii and other coasts south toward New Zealand.
The Japan Meteorological Agency said a tsunami as high as 60 centimeters (2 feet) had been detected as the waves moved south along the Pacific coast from Hokkaido to Tokyo Bay. Officials urged caution, saying that bigger waves could come later.
Damage and evacuations were reported in the Russian regions nearest the quake’s epicenter on the Kamchatka Peninsula.
Local authorities on Russia’s Kamchatka peninsula said several people were injured during the massive quake, but didn’t give an exact number.
Oleg Melnikov, head of the regional health department, said a few people hurt themselves while rushing to leave buildings and a hospital patient received an injury while jumping out of a window. Melnikov said that all injured people were in satisfactory condition.
A video released by Russian media outlet showed a team of doctors at a cancer clinic on Kamchatka holding a patient and clutching medical equipment as the quake rocked an operating room, before continuing with surgery after the shaking stopped. Officials said the doctors will receive decorations.
In Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Kamchatka’s regional capital, the quake damaged a local kindergarten, which was not in operation due to ongoing repair work.
The Russian authorities said that tsunami waves topping 3 meters (10 feet) hit Severokurilsk, the main city on the Pacific archipelago that Russia calls the Kuril Islands.
Severokurilsk Mayor Alexander Ovsyannikov said the city’s was flooded by four tsunami waves, which washed fishing boats into the sea, but no major damage was recorded in the city. Power supplies were shut off and the authorities were checking the power network after the flooding.
Japan also asserts territorial rights to the islands it calls the Northern Territories, which were taken by the Soviet Union in the final days of World War II. The dispute has kept the countries from signing a peace treaty.
Wednesday’s 8.8-magnitude quake was among the four strongest earthquakes this century, and among the eight strongest since 1900, according to the USGS.
The earthquake occurred along the Pacific Ring of Fire, the ring of seismic faults around the Pacific Ocean where most of the world’s earthquakes occur.
The 2011 Japan quake and the 2004 earthquake off Indonesia were 9.1 magnitude, and a 2010 earthquake in Chile also was recorded at 8.8 magnitude.
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