A tsunami more than 1 meter high has hit Japan's Pacific coast, local media reported, quoted by DPA. The tsunami was detected hours after a powerful earthquake on Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula, BTA reported.
The 1.3 meter high tidal wave was recorded at a port in northeastern Iwate Prefecture, local media reported. They added that waves as high as 80 cm were seen in other prefectures. Agence France-Presse reported a tsunami of 1.3 meters high and at a port in Miyagi Prefecture, citing the Japan Meteorological Agency.
Authorities had warned that the tsunami could reach 3 meters.
The height of the tidal waves in the Russian coastal city of Severo-Kurilsk has already exceeded 3 meters, with the highest wave reaching 5 meters, the Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported, citing emergency services. Reuters quoted the agency as adding that as a result of the Kamchatka earthquake, the power grid on Sakhalin Island was damaged and electricity was cut off.
The Japan Meteorological Agency urged residents of coastal areas to evacuate to higher ground or designated shelters and advised them to stay in safe places. The warning could remain in effect for another day or more, the agency reported.
According to a government spokesman, there was no information about casualties or damage. The government in Tokyo has formed a crisis team to monitor the situation.
According to the US Geological Survey, this is the strongest earthquake in the world since the Fukushima disaster in March 2011. Since statistics have been kept on the matter, there have been only five earthquakes that were stronger than this.
At the same time, temperatures of 41.2 degrees were recorded in the city of Tamba, also in Japan - the highest temperature measured in the country since statistics have been kept, the meteorological agency reported, quoted by Agence France-Presse. This surpasses the previous heat record of 41.1 degrees, recorded in 2020 in the city of Hamamatsu and in 2018. in Kumagaya.
Ports in the US state of Hawaii were closed after a powerful 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck the Pacific Ocean off the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia's Far East earlier today, DPA reported.
The Coast Guard has instructed commercial ships sailing to Hawaiian ports to remain at sea for now.
A tsunami warning has been issued in Hawaii, and local media are broadcasting footage from beach cameras monitoring the coastline.