A huge earthquake sent tsunami waves hurtling across the Pacific – but little damage was reported. Here’s what we know

CNN

By Lex Harvey, CNN

(CNN) — One of the most powerful earthquakes in modern history shook Russia’s remote east coast Wednesday, sending tsunami waves hurtling across the Pacific Ocean and putting nations from Japan to the United States to Chile on high alert with millions urged to evacuate.

The waves hit Russia and Japan first and then the US states of Hawaii, California, Oregon, Washington, and Alaska.

Despite the extraordinary strength of the quake – which at an 8.8 magnitude is tied for the sixth strongest ever recorded – the destructive tsunami that many feared did not materialize and millions across the Pacific were able to breathe a collective sigh of relief.

Less than 24 hours after the quake first struck, most tsunami alerts around the world had already been lifted.

Here’s what we know about the earthquake and what happened in the hours after.

Where did the quake hit?

The earthquake struck about 74 miles (119 kilometers) southeast of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky city, on Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula around 11:25 a.m. local time Wednesday, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).

It occurred at a depth of 20.7 kilometers, according to the USGS.

Kamchatka, which is sparsely populated, is part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, an area of intense seismic and volcanic activity on both sides of the Pacific Ocean.

More than 100 significant aftershocks were recorded near Russia in the hours after the quake, according to the USGS. Of those, three were magnitude 6.0 or greater, with the strongest being a 6.9 magnitude that occurred about 45 minutes after the main shock.

There were also foreshocks to this quake — earthquakes of 7.4- and 6.6-magnitude occurred nine days before. Foreshocks of that magnitude are rare, but not unheard of.

The earthquake was the strongest since 2011, when a 9.0 magnitude quake hit eastern Japan, triggering a devastating tsunami.

Klyuchevskaya Sopka, Eurasia’s highest volcano that is located in Kamchatka, erupted after the earthquake, according to Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.

Which areas were affected?

The earthquake triggered tsunami alerts from Russia, in the eastern Pacific, to Ecuador and Chile, thousands of miles away across the Pacific Ocean.

Many coastal nations quickly issued tsunami warnings or advisories and urged residents to evacuate to higher ground, as they braced for possible hours of high swells.

In the Russian district of Severo-Kurilsk, near the epicenter of the earthquake, a state of emergency was issued after tsunami waves lashed the coast, tearing boats from their moorings and carrying away storage containers, according to state media TASS and videos from the scene.

Nearly 300 people were evacuated from the port, regional emergency services told state-run RIA News. A tsunami wave of 3-4 meters high was recorded in the Yelizovo District of Kamchatka, according to Russian authorities.

Kamchatka residents described chaotic scenes to Russian state media following the quake.

“When it happened, I was at home. The tremors lasted for four minutes. At first it seemed like they were about to stop, but they grew stronger,” Petr Shpilenok told RIA Novosti.

There were no casualties from the quake, according to a Kremlin spokesperson.

Japan’s northernmost island Hokkaido was one of the first places to report tsunami waves, measuring up to 60 centimeters (2 feet), along with parts of Russia. Tsunami sirens could be heard blaring through parts of the island on Wednesday morning. Video shared by Reuters and the Nippon News Network showed people taking refuge on a roof.

More than 1.9 million people across the country were urged to move to safer ground as waves continued to slap the country’s east coast, inching closer to Tokyo. A tsunami wave measuring 1.3 meters (4.3 feet) was observed at Kuji Port in Iwate prefecture, northeastern Japan, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.

Waves hit US shores

In the US, tsunami warnings and advisories were issued for Hawaii, Alaska, and the entire US west coast, as coastal residents braced for high waves.

The mayor of Hawaii’s capital Honolulu, Rick Blangiardi urged people to move to higher ground as sirens blared across the city, causing gridlock on the streets. Emergency shelters opened in the islands of Oahu, Kauai and Maui.

“We need people to stay calm but also to act accordingly. If you can get to higher ground if you’re in a low-lying area, please do that,” Blangiardi said.

“It will not hit one beach, it will wrap around the islands,” warned the state’s Gov. Josh Green.

Tsunami waves reached Hawaii’s coast around 7:30 p.m. local time Tuesday, after smaller swells first hit Alaska earlier in the evening. A 5.7-foot wave was recorded in Kaului, on the Hawaiian island of Maui. However, damage was limited, and by the next morning, evacuations were lifted across Oahu, the Hawaii island that includes the city of Honolulu.

Still, authorities there cautioned that risks continue. “Watch for floodwaters … do an assessment and check your structures and your homes,” James Barros, the administrator for the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency, said at a news conference.

The tsunami waves reached California, Washington and Oregon later in the evening but faded relatively quickly. One heavy surge ripped off a dock in Crescent City Harbor District, northwest California.

Governments in Chile, Colombia and Ecuador had cancelled their tsunami alerts by Wednesday evening.

South America and beyond

The governments of Chile, Peru and Ecuador also issued tsunami alerts and visitor sites in Ecuador’s Galapagos Islands were temporarily closed following the quake, according to the Galapagos National Park.

Tsunami waves hit the Galapagos Islands with Baltra and Santacruz islands seeing wave heights of 1.04 meters (3.4 feet) and 0.4 meters (1.3 feet) respectively, according to data from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC).

The Integrated Tsunami Alert System of Mexico and Central America also issued a tsunami alert that stretched from Ensenada, on Mexico’s northwest coast, to the Central American country of Panama.

Chile evacuated five prisons due to the tsunami threat, its national disaster agency said.

Advisories were also issued for several Pacific US territories, including Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and American Samoa. The Philippines, Indonesia, China, Mexico, Panama, French Polynesia’s Marquesas Islands, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Taiwan also issued tsunami advisories, warnings and watches, although most have since been cancelled.

This story has been updated.

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CNN’s Brandon Miller, Darya Tarasova, Catherine Nicholls, Olivia Kemp, Lachlan Mykura, Katharina Krebs, Billy Stockwell, Michael Rios, Taylor Ward, Abel Alvarado, Isa Cardona, Holly Yan, Matt Rehbein and Karina Tsui contributed reporting.