Millions evacuate in face of Pacific tsunamis after Russia quake

Millions evacuate in face of Pacific tsunamis after Russia quake

This image courtesy of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Tsunami Warning System shows tsunami warnings (red), advisories (orange) watches (yellow) and threats (purple) after an 8.7 earthquake hit off of Russia's far east

One of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded struck Russia's sparsely populated Far East Wednesday, causing tsunamis that forced millions to evacuate homes across the Pacific rim, from Japan to Ecuador.

The magnitude 8.8 quake struck off Russia's Kamchatka peninsula, rattling the earth and generating waves of up to four meters (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's World War II monument about 400 meters 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In Japan, almost two million people were told to head to higher ground, before the warnings were downgraded or rescinded.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 -- destroyed by a huge quake and tsunami in 2011 -- 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's 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.

"As residents here, we really do feel scared: there's this sense of uncertainty, we truly don't know what's going to happen" said Patricia Espinosa of Isabela Island, where inhabitants were taken higher to ground in requisitioned buses and dump trucks.

"Once the wave train arrived… maximum heights of up to 1.3 m were observed"  according to the Ecuadoran navy’s oceanographic institute. "Disturbances are currently being recorded, which will continue for the next few hours."

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's 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. 

"STAY STRONG AND STAY SAFE!" 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.

"Red-hot lava is observed flowing down the western slope. There is a powerful glow above the volcano and explosions," said Russia's Geophysical Survey.

- Pacific alerts -

Wednesday's 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: "We've advised guests to stay safe and not go out, and to avoid going to the coast."

Pacific nation Palau, about 800 kilometers (500 miles) east of the Philippines, ordered the evacuation of "all areas along the coastline".

Waves of up to four meters are expected overnight in the Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia, authorities said in a press statement.

burs-arb/sms