A powerful earthquake off the coast of Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula triggered tsunami warnings and widespread evacuations across Japan, leaving one person dead and seven others injured during emergency responses.
The 8.8-magnitude quake, the strongest to hit the region since 1952, struck on the morning of July 30, prompting immediate tsunami alerts across Japan’s Pacific coastline.
The tremor was felt as far as the northern Kuril Islands, followed by waves reaching between 20 centimeters and 1.3 meters in various eastern, northeastern, and northern coastal areas of Japan.
According to Japan’s Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi, the fatality occurred in Kumamoto Prefecture when a driver attempting to flee coastal areas lost control of his car on a mountain road.
The seven injured individuals suffered varying levels of harm during evacuation efforts, but no deaths or serious injuries have been directly linked to the tsunami waves themselves.
In response, Japanese authorities issued evacuation orders affecting nearly two million residents along the Pacific coast. The national meteorological agency has urged the public not to return to their homes until all tsunami warnings are officially lifted.
In Kamchatka, emergency services declared a state of alert, evacuating around 2,400 people to safety. While the Russian region bore the quake’s full force, neighboring countries including Japan, the United States, and the Philippines also issued tsunami alerts as a precaution.
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