Quake rocks Russia's far east, triggering tsunami warnings around Pacific

8.8-magnitude quake causes alarm as far away as Hawaii; French Polynesia faces high waves

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MOSCOW/TOKYO - Parts of French Polynesia were told to brace themselves for waves as high as 4m on July 30, after a powerful 8.8-magnitude earthquake off Russia's far eastern coast triggered tsunami warnings as far away as Hawaii, Japan and Chile.

The shallow earthquake damaged buildings and injured several people in the remote Russian region, while much of Japan's eastern seaboard — devastated by a 9-magnitude earthquake and tsunami in 2011 — was ordered to evacuate.

By the evening of July 30, Japan and Hawaii had downgraded their tsunami warnings, but the authorities in French Polynesia warned residents of several of the remote Marquesas Islands to move to higher ground and follow official instructions. The waves were expected to hit some islands in the early morning hours.

"Our armed forces in French Polynesia are on alert as a precautionary measure, to be ready to assist our fellow citizens and state services in potential search and rescue operations or medical evacuations," French Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu said on social media platform X.

While the Marquesas are high-rising volcanic islands, much of French Polynesia consists of low-lying atolls.

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

"Today's earthquake was serious and the strongest in decades of tremors," Kamchatka Governor Vladimir Solodov said in a video posted on Telegram.

A resident in the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky said the shaking went on for several minutes.

"I decided to leave the building," said Mr Yaroslav, 25. "It felt like the walls could collapse any moment. The shaking lasted continuously for at least three minutes."

In Severo-Kurilsk in the northern Kuril Islands, south of Kamchatka, tsunami waves exceeded 3m, with the largest up to 5m, Russia's RIA news agency reported.