An earthquake of magnitude 8.8, the most powerful in the region in almost 73 years, struck Tuesday off the Russian Kamchatka peninsula, causing tsunamis in Russia and Japan and triggering alerts in almost the whole Pacific.
A tsunami in the Pacific Ocean caused floods in Severo-Kourilsk, in the north of the Russian Kourile archipelago, the ministry of emergency situations announced.
Videos published on social networks have shown buildings invaded by water in this city of around 2,000 inhabitants, the population of which has been evacuated.
At the same time, live images on Japanese television showed people evacuating by car or on foot to higher areas, especially in the northern island of Hokkaido, where a first 30 cm high tsunami was observed.
The American Institute of Geophysics (USGS) had initially reported an earthquake of a magnitude of 8.7, before raising its power to 8.8. It occurred around 7:25 p.m. on Tuesday at 20.7 km deep, about 126 km from the capital of the Kamchatka region, in the Russian Far East.
This magnitude is the strongest recorded since 1952 in the Kamchatka region, according to local seismological services.
Tsunami alert in British Columbia
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Japanese television NHK broadcast special coverage with a presenter asking the inhabitants of the coasts to evacuate: “Exhaust immediately to save your lives”.
The employees of the Fukushima nuclear power plant (northern Japan), destroyed by a powerful earthquake and a tsunami in March 2011, were evacuated, said its operator.
“Tsunamis will hit repeatedly. Do not venture into the sea and do not approach the coast as long as the alert is not lifted, “warned the Japanese weather agency (JMA).
It had initially announced a tsunami up to 1 m, but this forecast was then increased to 3 m.
Some railway lines have been suspended. “Residents of the regions where alerts have been issued must immediately evacuate to safe, raised areas or evacuation buildings,” said government spokesperson Yoshimasa Hayashi.
The Japanese alert relates to the whole north and east coast of the archipelago, to the south of Osaka, as well as on the small peripheral islands. Beyond that, as well as in the bays of Tokyo and Osaka, the tsunami could reach 1 m.
The American Tsunamis Center (PTWC), qualifying the potential impact of “dangerous”, alerts on a risk of waves of more than 3 m along certain coasts of the equator, the northwest of the Hawaiian islands and Russia.
Tsunamis from one to three meters above the tide level are also possible along certain coasts of Chile, Costa Rica, French Polynesia, Guam, Hawaii, Japan and other Pacific islands and archipelagos, he adds.
Finally, tsunamis up to 1 m can be expected elsewhere, especially in Australia, Colombia, Mexico, New Zealand, Tonga and Taiwan.
In Mexico, the authorities ordered the inhabitants of the whole Pacific coast, from fariform to chiapas, to stay away from the ocean.
The Philippines also urged the inhabitants of the East Coast to move towards the interior of the land, providing for a tsunami up to 1 m between 1:20 and 2 h 40 in Quebec, and advised fishermen already in sea to stay off deep waters.
The United States has issued a series of alerts of different levels along the North American West Coast of Alaska to the entire Californian coast. Tsunami alerts have been broadcast on mobile phones in California, according to AFP journalists.
During the night, Peru and China also expressed tsunami alerts.
Replicas
At least six aftershocks have shaken the region, one of which is magnitude 6.9 and another of magnitude 6.3, according to the USGS. The seismological service of kamchatka warned that up to 7.5 replicas are expected in the coming days.
On July 20, an earthquake of magnitude 7.4, followed by many replicas, had also occurred off the coast of Kamchatka, without doing major damage.
The epicenter of Tuesday earthquake is roughly the same as that of a massive shock of magnitude 9.0 occurred in November 1952, which had caused a devastating tsunami throughout the Pacific, said the USGS.
The Kamthatka peninsula is the meeting point between the Pacific and North American tectonic plates, which makes the region one of the most active seismic areas on the planet.
Since 1900, seven large -scale earthquakes, of a magnitude greater than or equal to 8.3, have occurred along this peninsula.