Japan Issues Tsunami Warning After Powerful 8.0 Earthquake Near Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula

Japan’s Meteorological Agency on Wednesday upgraded its earlier tsunami advisory to an alert, warning of waves up to three meters along the Pacific coast of Japan following a powerful magnitude 8.0 earthquake that struck near Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula, The Associated Press reported.

The country’s Met department raised the alert level after earlier estimating a one-meter high tsunami. Officials warned that the first wave could hit northern Japan within 30 minutes of upgrading the alert, down from 90 minutes estimated initially.

Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky Reports Power Outages and Cellular Disruptions

According to the report, the quake struck at around 8:25 am local time (2325 GMT Tuesday) at a depth of 19.3 km. While residents in Japan’s Hokkaido felt only light tremors, the nearby Russian city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky witnessed power outages and disruptions in mobile services as residents described scenes of tumbling furniture, broken mirrors and swaying cars, among other things.

US National Tsunami Warning Center Issues Advisories

The US National Tsunami Warning Center issued advisories for parts of the Alaska Aleutians, California, Oregon, Washington and Hawaii.

Japan lies along the Ring of Fire, one of the planet’s most active seismic zones. In early July, several strong quakes, including one measuring 7.4 on Richter scale had rattled the Sea of Okhotsk near Kamchatka. Japan’s emergency agencies have since mobilised a task force for monitoring and response.

(This is a breaking news story)