TOKYO — Japan’s meteorological agency issued a tsunami alert for Japan’s Pacific coast, upgrading an earlier advisory stemming from the powerful, magnitude-8.0 quake that hit Wednesday morning near Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula.
The agency issued an advisory for a tsunami of up to 3 yards across the Pacific coast of Japan, possibly starting to arrive along the northern Japanese coasts in less than half an hour after the alert.
A tsunami warning also was extended to Hawaii, with the National Weather Service’s Pacific Tsunami Warning Center saying a tsunami had been generated that could cause damage along the coastlines of all the Hawaiian islands.
“Urgent action should be taken to protect lives and property,” the warning said. The first waves were expected around 7 p.m. local time.
Japan’s meteorological agency said the quake occurred at 8:25 a.m. and registered a preliminary magnitude of 8.0. The quake was about 160 miles from Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost of the country’s four big islands, and it was felt only slightly, according to Japan’s NHK television.
The U.S. Geological Survey said it hit at a depth of 12 miles. The USGC said shortly after initial reports that the quake’s strength was 8.7 magnitude.
Russia’s Tass news agency reported from the biggest city nearby, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, that many people ran out into the street without shoes or outerwear. Cabinets toppled inside homes, mirrors were broken, cars swayed in the street, and balconies on buildings shook noticeably.
Tass also reported power outages and mobile phone service failures in the capital of the Kamchatka region.
The National Tsunami Warning Center, based in Alaska, issued a tsunami warning for parts of the Alaska Aleutian Islands and a watch for parts of the West Coast, including California, Oregon, and Washington, as well as Hawaii.
The advisory also includes a vast swath of Alaska’s coastline, including parts of the panhandle.
The Japanese government said it set up a task force for information-gathering and response in case of any emergency. University of Tokyo seismologist Shinichi Sakai told NHK that a distant earthquake could cause a tsunami that affects Japan if its epicenter is shallow.
Japan, part of the area known as the Pacific ring of fire, is one of the world’s most quake-prone country.
Five powerful quakes — the largest with a magnitude of 7.4 — struck in the sea near Kamchatka this month. The largest quake, at a depth of 20 kilometers, was about 90 miles east of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, which has a population of 180,000.
On Nov. 4, 1952, a magnitude-9.0 quake in Kamchatka caused damage but no reported deaths even though it set off 30-foot waves in Hawaii.