Overview

• A magnitude-8.6 earthquake off Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula on July 30 ranks among the ten strongest ever recorded, according to the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia.
• More than 50 aftershocks above magnitude 5 have followed the initial tremor, with the largest measuring 6.9.
• The quake generated tsunami waves up to five meters along Russia’s coast, one-meter swells in Japan and two-to-three-meter surges in Hawaii and California.
• The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center and local agencies issued multi-nation alerts covering Japan, Chile, the Solomon Islands and U.S. Pacific states, prompting evacuations.
• In Hawaii, panic spread as cruise ships departed ahead of surges, leaving some tourists stranded ashore under evacuation directives.