Quake in Russia Sends Waves Across World

With a magnitude of 8.8, the earthquake triggered tsunami warnings, volcano eruption

- REUTERS

A very powerful magnitude 8.8 earthquake off Russia's Far Eastern Kamchatka coast on Wednesday triggered tsunami warnings as far away as French Polynesia and Chile, and was followed by an eruption of the most active volcano on the peninsula.

The shallow quake damaged buildings and injured several people in the remote Russian region, while much of Japan's eastern seaboard—devastated by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami in 2011—was ordered to evacuate, as were parts of Hawaii.

By the evening, Japan, Hawaii and Russia had downgraded most of their tsunami warnings. But authorities in French Polynesia warned residents of several of the remote Marquesas Islands to move to higher ground and expect waves as high as 2.5 meters (8 feet).

Russian scientists said the quake in Kamchatka was the most powerful to hit the region since 1952.

"It felt like the walls could collapse any moment. The shaking lasted continuously for at least three minutes," said Yaroslav, 25, in the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.