Earthquake in Russia sets off tsunami alarms in Japan, US, Pacific Islands but no threat to Sri Lanka

With a tsunami hitting the coastal areas of Russia’s Kuril Islands and Japan’s large northern island of Hokkaido and warnings ringing across Pacific Islands and the US, local officials have ruled out any threat to Sri Lanka.

The tsunami warnings came after an 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck Russia’s Far East early Wednesday. The Japan Meteorological Agency said a first tsunami wave of about 30 cm reached Nemuro on the eastern coast of Hokkaido. Damage and evacuations were reported in the Russian regions nearest the quake’s epicenter on the Kamchatka Peninsula.

The first tsunami wave hit the coastal area of Severo-Kurilsk, the main settlement on Russia’s Kuril Islands in the Pacific, according to the local governor Valery Limarenko. He said residents were safe and staying on high ground until the threat of a repeat wave was gone.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said waves of 1 to 3 meters above tide level were possible along some coastal areas of Hawaii, Chile, Japan and the Solomon Islands. Waves of more than 3 meters were possible along some coastal areas of Russia and Ecuador.

The earthquake was the strongest anywhere in the world since the March 2011 earthquake off northeast Japan that measured 9.0 magnitude and caused a massive tsunami that set off meltdowns at a Fukushima nuclear power plant.

- With Agencies inputs