Tsunami warnings were issued in areas in the Pacific, including Hawaii, Alaska, Russia and Japan.
Tsunami waves could exceed 10 feet (3 meters) of tidal levels along the coasts of Hawaii, Ecuador and Russia, according to a warning issued by the U.S. National Tsunami Warning Center at 11:07pm on July 29th. The first wave arrived in Hawaii. Oahu, the BBC reports.
“Tsutami has been created along the coastlines of all Hawaiian islands that could cause damage,” PTWC said in a bulletin. “We should take urgent action to protect our lives and property.”
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Honolulu Mayor Rick Brangiardi warned residents to move to high altitudes, while Hawaii’s governor Josh Green urged people to quickly evacuate the coastal areas.
At a press conference reported by CNN, Green said, “It will not be attacked by one beach and will envelop the island.”
In Japan, authorities have been evacuating more than 1.9 million people in Japan, as waves over four feet (1.2 m) hit the country’s north and east coast, CNN reports.
Images of the tsunami waves that hit the Russian coastal town of Severoklykrilsk in Kamchatka show water inundated in the harbor.
In North America, tsunami recommendations are also located along the coasts of California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, Alaska and the Aleutian Islands. Waves of 3-10 feet (1-3 m) are possible along the PTWC along the coasts of Chile, Costa Rica, French Polynesia, Japan, Jarvis, Johnston Atoll, Kiliberty, Midway, Palmyra, Permy, Samoa and Solomon Islands.
The epicenter of the earthquake was recorded approximately 74 miles (119 km) southeast of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky on the Kamchatka Peninsula, according to the USGS. At the time of the Midnight EST, 24 powerful aftershocks reaching sizes above 5.0 were reported in Russia, with two in two large sizes, 6.9 and 6.3.
The Kamchatka earthquake is considered megacaulking because its size is over 8.
The Kamchatka Peninsula is a volcanic horseshoe-shaped belt known for its sparsely populated area within the Pacific Ring and for its explosive volcanic eruptions and severe earthquakes. The ring passes through southern Chile to the west coast of the Americas, through the islands of Alaska and the Russian Far East, through Japan and the Philippines.
Volcanoes here occur because of the tectonic plates involved in a process called subduction. This movement lowers the melting point of the rocks in the Earth’s mantle, creating a pocket of magma rising onto the surface. Rok Vanderkruysen, a volcanologist at Drexel University in Philadelphia, previously spoke to Live Science.
In fact, it is estimated that 90% of the boundaries of the 34,000 miles (55,000 km) subduction plates on Earth are found in the Pacific Ocean.
The movement of the structure causes an earthquake when plates pass each other. Jeffrey Carson, professor emeritus of tectonics at Syracuse University in New York, previously spoke to Live Science. “And that’s where the biggest earthquake on our planet occurs.”
With all this activity, the Ring of Fire is inhabited by about 75% of the Earth’s active volcanoes, reporting 90% of all measured earthquakes.
In fact, all five largest earthquakes ever recorded have occurred in the area.
1. Valdivia Earthquake, Chile: Magnitude 9.5, 1960
2. Great Alaska Earthquake, USA: Magnitude 9.2, 1964
3. Sumatra Andaman Islands Earthquake: Magnitude 9.1, 2004
4. Tohoku Earthquake, Japan: Magnitude 9.1, 2011
5. Kamchatka earthquake, Russia: Magnitude 9.0, 1952
The latest earthquakes were the Chilean Maule earthquake in 2010 and the Ecuador-Colombia earthquake in 1906, all in magnitude 8.8, and are all in sixth place.
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