Earthquake off Russia rattles US, Japan coasts — a 2010 tragedy of similar scale had displaced 1.5 million

A massive undersea earthquake struck off Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula early Wednesday, generating tsunami warnings and advisories across a vast stretch of the Pacific — from Japan and Alaska to Hawaii, California and down to Mexico.

The quake, registering 8.8 in magnitude, was centered in the Sea of Okhotsk near the remote eastern coast of Kamchatka, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Though the quake occurred Wednesday local time, it was still Tuesday in the United States.

The National Tsunami Warning Center in Alaska issued tsunami alerts for Alaska and the U.S. West Coast, while the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Honolulu warned of potentially damaging waves across all Hawaiian islands. Mexico's navy also issued an alert for coastal states, expecting waves of up to 3.3 feet.


In Japan, tsunami waves as high as 1.3 meters (4.3 feet) were recorded at Kuji Port in Iwate Prefecture, with the Japan Meteorological Agency warning that waves could intensify. Additional footage from NHK, Japan’s public broadcaster, showed waves arriving at the coasts of Hokkaido, Ibaraki and Chiba.

In the U.S., tsunami sirens were activated in parts of Northern California, including Crescent City, where waves up to 5.7 feet were forecast. Oregon's emergency authorities urged residents to stay away from beaches and marinas, saying the tsunami was not expected to be catastrophic but could generate dangerous currents. The tsunami was also expected to reach Hawaii after 7 p.m. local time, and advisories were issued as far south as Mexico.

Echoes of 2010: Chile’s deadly earthquake and tsunami

The calamity is a grim reminder the 2010 Chile earthquake and tsunami, which caused widespread devastation across central Chile. That quake, registering magnitude 8.8, struck in the early hours of February 27, 2010, near Concepción — Chile’s second-largest city — and sent tsunami waves racing across the Pacific, prompting mass evacuations in Hawaii, Japan, and the Philippines.

According to reporting by The New York Times at the time, the Chilean quake killed hundreds and displaced more than 1.5 million people. Cities like Talca and Concepción were especially hard-hit, with widespread structural collapse. In Concepción, a new 14-storey apartment building crumbled, and fires broke out at the University of Concepción’s laboratories. In the coastal port of Talcahuano, tsunami waves washed boats into city streets and flooded the town square.

President Michelle Bachelet called it “one of the worst tragedies in the last 50 years” and declared a national “state of catastrophe.” Despite the quake’s size — tied for the fifth largest in the world since 1900 — experts noted the damage was far less catastrophic than the Haiti earthquake six weeks earlier, owing to Chile’s strict building codes introduced after past seismic disasters.

More than two dozen powerful aftershocks rattled Chile over the following days. Residents in Santiago, nearly 200 miles from the epicenter, described terrifying scenes of swaying buildings, screaming residents, and car alarms ringing for minutes. In Talca, most homes were severely damaged and people camped outside near fires built from collapsed structures.

The 2010 quake also disrupted major infrastructure: highways buckled, bridges collapsed, and the airport in Santiago temporarily shut down due to ceiling damage. In the town of Chillán, the collapse of a prison wall allowed 300 inmates to escape amid the chaos.

The Chilean Red Cross initially declined international aid, but the United States, through President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, offered support and stood by for potential relief operations.

The 1960 Valdivia earthquake — the most powerful ever recorded at magnitude 9.5 — also struck Chile near Concepción. It killed nearly 2,000 people and left over two million homeless, searing into national memory the importance of preparedness for Pacific seismic events. Experts like Andre Filiatrault of the University at Buffalo later credited Chile’s reinforced concrete structures and engineering practices for mitigating the scale of the 2010 disaster.

One of the most powerful earthquakes on record

The 8.8-magnitude earthquake that struck off Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula on Wednesday is among the most powerful ever recorded, according to a New York Times report citing the U.S. Geological Survey. If its magnitude holds after further review, the quake will rank as the sixth-strongest globally since modern measurements began.

It is the most powerful earthquake since the 9.1-magnitude Tōhoku quake that devastated Japan in 2011, killing over 15,000 people and displacing 130,000. That disaster produced a towering 50-foot tsunami and triggered the Fukushima nuclear crisis after inundating more than 200 miles of Japan’s eastern coastline.

By comparison, Wednesday’s Kamchatka quake released massive seismic energy—though still about 2.8 times less than the 2011 event. The U.S. Geological Survey explains that each whole-number increase on the magnitude scale represents roughly 31.6 times more energy released.

The USGS estimates that the latest quake could cause economic losses running into tens of billions of dollars for Russia. “Extensive damage is probable and the disaster is likely widespread,” it said. The agency also noted that disasters of this magnitude typically require national or international-level responses.

According to USGS records cited by the Times, the five strongest earthquakes on record are:

• Valdivia, Chile, 1960 — magnitude 9.5
• Alaska, United States, 1964 — magnitude 9.2
• Sumatra, Indonesia, 2004 — magnitude 9.1
• Tōhoku, Japan, 2011 — magnitude 9.1
• Kamchatka, Russia, 1952 — magnitude 9.0
  
  (With inputs from NYT, AP)