Initial warnings following the 8.8 magnitude quake prompted residents in Japan to seek high ground and tourists in Hawaii to evacuate hotels, causing traffic disruptions. In Russia, several individuals sustained injuries while evacuating buildings, including a hospital patient who leapt from a window.

Millions were advised to relocate from coastal areas or seek higher ground due to potential tsunami threats. While waves reached the coasts of Japan, Hawaii, and the US West Coast, they did not seem to inflict significant damage.

Russian regions report limited damage

In Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, the quake damaged a local kindergarten that was unoccupied.

A video from a Russian news outlet captured doctors in Kamchatka trying to stabilize a patient and secure equipment during the tremor in an operating room.

On the less populated Kuril Islands, waves swamped the fishing port of Severo-Kurilsk, the islands’ main locale, disrupting power supplies. The mayor noted no major damage occurred.

Dozens in Japan find refuge

The Japan Meteorological Agency recorded a 60cm tsunami in Hamanaka and Kuji port, with several smaller waves reported elsewhere and at least one injury.

In Iwaki, a city in Fukushima prefecture, which was the epicentre of the 2011 tsunami and quake, dozens of residents gathered at a hilltop park after a community siren sounded and breakwater gates were closed.

Workers at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, severely damaged in 2011, took shelter on higher ground while remotely monitoring operations, the operator said.

Hours later, Japan downgraded its tsunami alert but left an advisory in place along the Pacific coast.