A tsunami sent waves into Russia, Japan, Hawaii and the West Coast of the United States after an 8.8 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of the Russian Far East early Wednesday.
The quake was one of the biggest temblors ever recorded. Several people were injured, but none seriously, and no major damage has been reported so far.
The danger already appeared to be lessening in some places, with authorities in Hawaii and parts of Japan and Russia downgrading their warnings.
Here's the latest:
Threat to US ‘has passed completely’
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said the threat of a major tsunami hitting the United States “has passed completely.”
Noem, speaking in Chile where she is attending meetings with officials, told reporters in the capital, Santiago: “We’re in really good shape right now. We were fully deployed and ready to respond if necessary, but grateful that we didn’t have to deal with the situation that this could have been.”
Explosions and lava flows on Russian volcano
Lava has begun to flow from the largest active volcano in the northern hemisphere Wednesday following the earthquake off Russia’s far eastern coast.
The Klyuchevskaya Sopka — which last erupted in 2023 — stands at 4,750 meters (15,584 feet) in the east of Russia’s Kamchatka region.
Observers heard explosions and saw streams of lava on the volcano’s western slopes, the Kamchatka branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ geophysical service said.
Scientists have anticipated an eruption, with the volcano’s crater filling with lava for several weeks and the mountain spitting out plumes of ash.
Sometimes described as the “land of fire and ice,” Kamchatka is one of the most active volcanic regions in the world. It has about 300 volcanoes, of which 29 are active, according to NASA Earth Observatory.