The strongest earthquake since 1952 of 8.8 on the Richter scale  hit Russia’s Kamchatka peninsula sending a 4m high tsunami towards Hawaii and triggering alarms across the Pacific on July 30.

The strongest seismic event in the region in over 70 years and possibly the sixth largest of all time, caused US authorities to order the evacuation of coastal areas in Hawaii and inbound planes were turned back to Los Angeles airport as residents made for higher ground and waited for the waves to reach the islands. The earthquake was so big it prompted tsunami warnings as far away as Japan and the US mainland coast.

“The strongest earthquake in the Kamchatka seismic focal zone since 1952 has just occurred,” the Kamchatka branch of the Unified Geophysical Service of the Russian Academy of Sciences stated via Telegram at about 11am local time, TASS reports. “According to various estimates, the initial  estiamte of the magnitude was  8.7 [later upgraded to 8.8]. This is certainly an outstanding event.”

As of 6:00am local time, the first tsunami wave struck the coastal zone of Severo-Kurilsk following an 8.8-magnitude earthquake near Kamchatka — possibly the sixth largest in recorded history, The New York Times reported. Sakhalin Governor Valery Limarenko said via Telegram that residents were sheltering on higher ground until authorities lift the warning for additional waves.

According to emergency services, the tsunami flooded parts of the city and the Alaid fishing company. On the Kamchatka Peninsula, a kindergarten wall collapsed, though no one was inside at the time. Russia’s Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring reported a tsunami wave reaching Kamchatka at a height of four metres, Meduza reports.

Emergency services in Kamchatka have begun a thorough inspection of socially significant facilities for possible damage. First of all, they are checking schools, hospitals, kindergartens. However, reported damage so far has been minor. The wall of a building of one of the peninsula’s kindergartens collapsed but there have been no building collapses reported in the earthquake-prone area and no serious injuries so far.

The earthquake’s epicentre was located approximately 149 kilometres southeast of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky at a depth of 17 kilometres. The initial tremor registered a magnitude of 7.1 before being revised upward. Residents across the Kamchatka region felt shaking of up to eight points on the Richter seismic intensity scale, and authorities have warned that aftershocks as strong as magnitude 7.5 could continue for weeks.

A tsunami warning was issued for the coast of Avacha Bay. A wave measuring between three and four metres was observed in the Yelizovsky district, and the first tsunami wave reached the coastal city of Severo-Kurilsk on the Kuril Islands, prompting evacuations to higher ground. In the aftermath, flooding was reported at the port of Severo-Kurilsk and a local fishing enterprise.

The earthquake triggered a series of aftershocks — at least eight with magnitudes above 5.0 within the span of an hour — at depths ranging from 7 to 100 kilometres.

Local infrastructure suffered moderate damage. A wall collapsed in a kindergarten in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, though no casualties were reported. City Children's Clinic No. 1 has been temporarily closed for technical inspection, and internet service was briefly disrupted across the region, Russian press reports. Authorities shortened the working day for government offices and opened emergency hotlines and temporary shelters for residents whose homes may have been structurally compromised.

The Sakhalin Region government said it is “mobilising forces and reserves to eliminate the consequences” in Severo-Kurilsk. A regional operations centre has also been established to coordinate emergency response.

The earthquake is impacting the entire Pacific Rim region. A tsunami threat has been declared for Kamchatka, all of the Kuril Islands, and almost the entire east coast of Japan, Alaska, and the American states of California and Oregon. 

bno IntelliNews’ team report that the tsunami in the Pacific was smaller than first feared. The first waves that made landfall in in northern island of Hokkaido, according to NHK broadcaster, were only 30cm high after they travelled across the Pacific ocean. However, NHK warned that subsequent waves could be much larger.

The Japan Meteorological Agency initially forecast tsunami waves of up to three metres along Japan’s northern and eastern coasts, extending as far south as Wakayama in Osaka Prefecture.

Following the tsunami warning, workers at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant — devastated by a tsunami in 2011 — were evacuated, Tokyo Electric Power suspended the discharge of treated water from the Fukushima-1 nuclear plant  and the plant put on standby mode.

“We have evacuated all workers and staff at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant,” a spokesperson for plant operator TEPCO said in a statement local press reports.

The Japanese Self-Defence Forces deployed aircraft to monitor the Pacific. Shinkansen rail services in central and northeastern Japan were also halted. No casualties or damage have been reported.

In the US, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued a tsunami warning. Officials in Hawaii’s Oahu island urged residents in coastal areas to evacuate as a precaution.

“The rupture extended at least 200 km in a southwesterly direction, along the axis of the deep-sea trench,” the Kamchatka geophysical service reported, linking the seismic activity to sources of previous earthquakes in July 2025 and August 2024.

Fishermen in Indonesia were warned to stay at home. The Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) has urged coastal residents and fishermen in Manokwari and another six regions in West Papua to be wary of more tsunami waves arriving later on July 30. The regions has been put on “orange” tsunami alert.