PUERTO AYORA(National Times)- People across the Pacific were forced to grab what they could and run for their lives after a powerful 8.8 earthquake struck off Russia\u2019s Kamchatka peninsula on Wednesday. The massive quake triggered tsunami alerts from Japan to South America, sending waves crashing into ports, shutting down beaches, and causing chaos as millions rushed to safer ground. It was one of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded. The quake generated waves of up to four metres (12 feet) in height. The initial quake caused limited damage and only light injuries, despite being the strongest since 2011, when 15,000 people were killed in Japan. But tsunami warnings were issued for more than a dozen countries, with millions of residents put on high alert. In Russia, a tsunami crashed through the port of Severo-Kurilsk, submerging the local fishing plant, officials said. Russian state television footage showed buildings and debris swept into the sea. The surge of water reached as far as the town\u2019s World War II monument about 400 metres from the shoreline, said Mayor Alexander Ovsyannikov. In Japan, almost two million people were told to head to higher ground before the warnings were downgraded or rescinded. The Fukushima nuclear plant in northeast Japan \u2014 destroyed by a huge quake and tsunami in 2011 \u2014 was evacuated, its operator said. One woman was killed as she drove her car off a cliff as she tried to escape, local media reported. A swathe of South America\u2019s Pacific coast remained under a tsunami warning by 1800 GMT Wednesday. In the Galapagos Islands, national parks were closed, schools were shuttered, loudspeakers blared warnings, and tourists were spirited off sightseeing boats and onto the safety of land. \u201cAs residents here, we really do feel scared: there\u2019s this sense of uncertainty, we truly don\u2019t know what\u2019s going to happen,\u201d said Patricia Espinosa of Isabela Island, where inhabitants were taken to higher ground in requisitioned buses and dump trucks. \u201cOnce the wave train arrived\u2026 maximum heights of up to 1.3 m were observed,\u201d according to the Ecuadorian navy\u2019s oceanographic institute. \u201cDisturbances are currently being recorded, which will continue for the next few hours.\u201d Peru closed 65 of its 121 Pacific ports as the Navy warned that fishing should be suspended and people should stay away from the coast. Earlier, tsunami sirens blared near Hawaii\u2019s popular Waikiki beach, where an AFP photographer saw gridlocked traffic as Hawaiians escaped to higher ground. Hawaii governor Josh Green said flights in and out of the island of Maui had been cancelled as a precaution. \u201cSTAY STRONG AND STAY SAFE!\u201d US President Donald Trump said on social media. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center later downgraded the alert for Hawaii to an advisory, and local authorities cancelled a coastal evacuation order. Russian scientists reported that the Klyuchevskoy volcano erupted shortly after the earthquake. \u201cRed-hot lava is observed flowing down the western slope. There is a powerful glow above the volcano and explosions,\u201d said Russia\u2019s Geophysical Survey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pacific alerts
Wednesday\u2019s quake was the strongest in the Kamchatka region since 1952, the regional seismic monitoring service said, warning of aftershocks of up to 7.5 magnitude. The USGS said the quake was one of the 10 strongest tremors ever recorded. The quake was followed by at least six aftershocks that further rattled the Russian Far East, including one of 6.9 magnitude. In Taitung in Taiwan, hotel resort worker Wilson Wang, 31, told AFP: \u201cWe\u2019ve advised guests to stay safe and not go out, and to avoid going to the coast.\u201d Pacific nation Palau, about 800 kilometres (500 miles) east of the Philippines, ordered the evacuation of \u201call areas along the coastline\u201d. Waves of up to four metres are expected overnight in the Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia, authorities said in a press statement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PUERTO AYORA(National Times)- People across the Pacific were forced to grab what they could and run for their lives after a powerful 8.8 earthquake struck off Russia\u2019s Kamchatka peninsula on Wednesday. The massive quake triggered tsunami alerts from Japan to South America, sending waves crashing into ports, shutting down beaches, and causing chaos as millions […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":109166,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-109165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n