The earthquake off the Pacific, Russia-Japan issued a tsunami warning

Last night, an 8.1-magnitude quake shook the Kuril Islands, 1,700 km northeast of Tokyo. Soon meteorological centers broadcast tsunami warnings on the coast of Japan and Russia, asking people to evacuate.

An evacuation center in Esashicho, Hokkaido, northern Japan, last night after a tsunami warning.(Photo: AP)

The earthquake on the Kuril Islands occurred at 20:14 local time (18:14 Vietnamese time). Hokkaido, the main island located in northern Japan and some Russian coastlines immediately alerted the tsunami. People are advised to go to places with high terrain, while Hokkaido island trains are temporarily suspended.

The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said a 40-centimeter wave hit Nemuro port on Hokkaido island and quickly weakened. Usually, earthquake tsunamis are difficult to see in the ocean, but they can rise very high when hitting the shore.

Due to no signs of danger, the tsunami alarm then quickly was canceled. However, the JMA insisted that they kept a close eye on the situation on the coast of Hokkaido Island. There are also no reports of damage in the Kuril Islands after the earthquake.

The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) evaluated the seismic crisis in Kuril: " A strong earthquake of this size has the ability to create tsunamis with tremendous devastation, hitting the coasts in the area near the epicenter in just a few minutes to a few hours ".

Initially JMA identified a tsunami of at least 2 meters high that could occur after the Kuril Islands earthquake. The US Pacific tsunami warning center also announced the possibility of strong tsunamis in Russia's Pacific coast.

(Photo: TTO)

On December 26, 2004, a 9.1-magnitude quake off the coast of Indonesia caused a historic tsunami of more than 10 meters across the Indian Ocean, killing 213,000 people in 11 countries. The heaviest damages are Indonesia, India and Sri Lanka.

Russia and Japan are competing for sovereignty over the four islands of the Kuril Islands, where the earthquake happened last night. This area is located between the Russian peninsula of Kamchatska and the big island of Hokkaido in northern Japan. The Soviet Union occupied the island group, which was called the Northern Territory of Japan at the end of World War II.

Disagreements around the Kuril Islands sovereignty prevented the two countries from signing a peace treaty to officially end the World War II. This is also the reason why Japan, the second largest economy in the world, is not interested in investing in Russia.

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