July 31, 2025: magnitude 8.8 earthquake hit off the eastern coast of Russia late Wednesday morning local time. It caused tsunami waves that spread across the Pacific. This massive earthquake, which was tied for the sixth-strongest ever recorded, caused countries to issue different levels of alerts. For example, the US coast, Hawaii, and Canada all had tsunami watch orders. The tragedy caused a lot of people to take precautions, and officials kept a careful check on the tsunami watch map for areas that were affected.
As of 5:30 a.m. Pacific Time on Wednesday, the largest waves were 5.7 feet high. They mostly affected Hawaii, California, and Alaska. Some tourists and locals in Maui allegedly spent the night in their cars after moving to higher ground.
In Japan, about 2 million people were told to leave at first, but all tsunami warnings have since been canceled. A tsunami warning means that there will be strong currents and dangerous floods along the coast, hence it is strongly advised that people leave. A tsunami alert, on the other hand, warns people to stay away from beaches and waterways because there are powerful currents or waves that could be dangerous to individuals who are near the ocean. After the first tremor, the Marquesas Islands, the Galápagos Islands, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu all received different levels of tsunami warnings.
Alerts were in effect along the coasts of the US, Hawaii, and Canada. A tiny part of the Northern California coast briefly had a tsunami warning, which is the highest degree of alert. This has subsequently been lowered to an advisory. Experts say that tsunami warning systems worked, which let people get out of the way in time. Amazingly, there were no deaths in Russia, even though the earthquake was very powerful.