Earthquake Today: Magnitude 8.7 Quake Hits Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula, Says Japan Tsunami Alert Issued

(MENAFN- Live Mint) Japan's meteorological agency said on Tuesday that a powerful earthquake hit near Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula and issued a tsunami advisory for Japan.

The agency said the quake registered a preliminary magnitude of 8.0. It issued an advisory for a tsunami of up to 1 metre along the Pacific coast of Japan.

The quake was about 250 kilometers away from Hokkaido and was felt only slightly, according to Japan's NHK television.

It sparked a Tsunami watch for Hawaii on Tuesday as well as a tsunami alert for Russia's far east coast, as per the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.

"Today's earthquake was serious and the strongest in decades of tremors," Kamchatka Governor Vladimir Solodov said in a video posted on the Telegram messaging app. He added that according to preliminary information there were no injuries, but a kindergarten was damaged.

The US Geological Survey said the earthquake was shallow at a depth of 19.3 km (12 miles), and was centred about 125 km (80 miles) east-southeast of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, a city of 165,000 along the coast of Avacha Bay. It revised the magnitude up from 8.0 earlier.

An evacuation order for the small town of Severo-Kurilsk, south of the peninsula, was declared due to the tsunami threat following the earthquake, Sakhalin Governor Valery Limarenko said on Telegram.

The Kamchatka branch of Russia's Ministry for Emergency Services said on Telegram that a tsunami wave up to 32 cm (1 foot) high may reach the coast.

The Japan Weather Agency said it expected a tsunami of up to 1 metre (3.3 feet) to reach large coastal areas starting around 0100 GMT.

The U.S. Tsunami Warning System also issued a warning of "hazardous tsunami waves" within the next three hours along some coasts of Russia and Japan. A tsunami watch was also in effect for the U.S. island territory of Guam and other islands of Micronesia.

Kamchatka and Russia's Far East sit on the Pacific Ring of Fire, a geologically active region that is prone to major earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

The National Tsunami Warning Center, based in Alaska, issued a tsunami warning for parts of the Alaska Aleutian Islands, and a watch for portions of the West Coast, including California, Oregon, and Washington, and Hawaii.

The advisory also includes a vast swath of Alaska's coast line, including parts of the panhandle.

A University of Tokyo seismologist Shinichi Sakai told NHK that a distant earthquake could cause a tsunami that affects Japan if its epicenter is shallow.

Japan, part of the area known as the Pacific ring of fire, is one of the world's most quake-prone country.

Earlier in July, five powerful quakes - the largest with a magnitude of 7.4 - struck in the sea near Kamchatka. The largest quake was at a depth of 20 kilometers and was 144 kilometers (89 miles) east of the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, which has a population of 180,000.

On Nov. 4, 1952, a magnitude 9.0 quake in Kamchatka caused damage but no reported deaths despite setting off 9.1-meter (30-foot) waves in Hawaii.

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