Overview

• The U.S. Geological Survey recorded the 8.8-magnitude quake at a depth of 20.7 kilometers about 119 kilometers east-southeast of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, marking the strongest event since 1952.
• Pacific-wide tsunami warnings led to coastal evacuations from Hawaii to New Zealand before minor waves under one meter struck Alaska’s Amchitka and Adak and topped 50 centimeters in northern Japan.
• Seismologists have identified multiple aftershocks as strong as magnitude 6.9 that continue to shake the region hours after the initial tremor.
• Klyuchevskoy volcano erupted shortly after the earthquake, sending an ash plume nearly two miles into the sky and degrading air quality across northern Kamchatka.
• Flooded ports, power outages and mobile network failures have hampered initial relief efforts, and authorities maintain evacuations in vulnerable low-lying communities.