Pacific tsunami chaos: What we know so far

A violent 8.8 magnitude earthquake has ripped through Russia’s Far East, sending massive tsunami waves racing across the Pacific Ocean and setting off widespread panic from Hawaii to Japan.

The monster quake struck just 126km from the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, rattling the densely populated eastern region. At 18km deep, the tremor is already being ranked among the strongest in recorded history.

Though no casualties have been reported so far, the destruction is evident, buildings have crumbled, ports submerged, and terrified residents were seen fleeing as floodwaters engulfed coastal towns like Severo-Kurilsk in Sakhalin.

Across the Pacific, Hawaii has already been brushed by tsunami waves, prompting emergency alerts that were later downgraded. Authorities there are allowing residents to return home cautiously.

But the threat is far from over.

Tsunami warnings are still active in several parts of the western US, including California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska  and Canada’s British Columbia. Officials expect waves to crash in within hours.

The ripple effect is global. Countries thousands of miles away, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Indonesia, and Japan are now bracing for the impact.

In Japan, nearly two million people have been ordered to evacuate. The initial waves there were relatively small, but meteorological experts warn they could swell up to three metres (9.8 feet), depending on how the ocean reacts.