Tokyo - An 8.8-magnitude earthquake near the Kamchatka Peninsula in eastern Russia early Wednesday triggered tsunami waves as high as four feet in the North Pacific, prompting warnings for Alaska and Hawaii in the US, Japan and New Zealand. Japan has evacuated the nuclear reactor in Fukushima as a precaution.
The earthquake struck at around 5 am Indian time and its epicenter was 19 km deep in the ocean. It is believed to be the most powerful earthquake in the world since the March 2011 earthquake. The March 2011 earthquake in northeastern Japan had a magnitude of 9.0 and triggered a massive tsunami that damaged the cooling system of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
Tsunami warning sirens sounded in the Hawaiian capital Honolulu on Tuesday and people were told to move to higher ground. The Japan Meteorological Agency said the first tsunami wave, about 30 centimeters high, reached Nemuro on the east coast of Hokkaido. There were reports of damage and evacuations in the Russian region near the Kamchatka Peninsula, where the quake's epicenter was.