A HUGE earthquake has struck the coast of Russia - strong enough to cause tsunamis, with warnings issued for the Pacific Islands.
The magnitude 8.7 earthquake struck off Russia’s Kamchatka on Wednesday, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
Itoccurred about 84 miles off Kamchatska at around 7.24pm EST (12:30am BST).
The was shallow and strong enough to cause waves or a .
The U.S. Geological Survey said the earthquake was at a depth of 19.3 km (12 miles).
A tsunami with a wave height of 3-4 metres was recorded in Kamchatka, Russia’s regional minister for emergency situations warned.
Vladimir Solodov, Governor of the Kamchatka Territory, told people to stay away from the coast due to the earthquake being the “strongest in decades”.
No injuries have been reported so far, but a nursery has been damaged.
Locals in the small town of Severo-Kurilsk are being evacuated.
“Today’s earthquake was serious and the strongest in decades of tremors,” Kamchatka Governor Vladimir Solodov said in a video posted on the Telegram messaging app.
Shortly after the quake hit, another struck the Kamchatka Peninsula with a magnitude of 5.51.
Tsunami warnings have been issued for Alaska, Hawaii, Russia and Japan as a result.
The Japan Weather Agency said it expected a tsunami of one meter (3.28 feet) to reach large coastal areas starting at around 10am local time.
Authorities warned people not to go into the sea and stay away from the coast.
The U.S. Tsunami Warning System also issued a warning of “hazardous tsunami waves” within the next three hours along some coasts of Russia and Japan.
It comes after The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre warned of a tsunami threat to Russia following three earthquakes last week - with the strongest having a magnitude of 7.4.
The largest quake up until now hit around 89 miles east of east of the Russian city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky - 12 miles below the seabed.
A slightly smaller earthquake of 6.7 struck just minutes earlier, along with a third 5.0 magnitude quake.
There were fears Hawaii would also be impacted - but an island-wide tsunami warning was later withdrawn.
Alerts were also issued for Guam and American Samoa.
The USGS had warned of possible “hazardous tsunami waves” within 300 kilometres of the epicentre in the Pacific.
And residents in Russia had been urged to get to higher ground.
