After the threat of Tsunami generated in the Pacific following one of the worst earthquakes never registered -in the Russian Peninsula of Kamchatka, of magnitude 8.8 -several of the affected countries, such as Japan and the US, have managed to regain calm, while in Central America and South America they continue vigilant although the alarms have been raised in some cases.
The earthquake caused four large waves that flooded the coast of one of the Kuriles of the North, Paramushir, without causing victims.
The first wave advanced 200 meters and the following damaged the infrastructure of the port of Sévero-Kurilsk, causing the evacuation of some 2,700 people in the Kuriles archipelago.
The Russian Peninsula later became a victim of a second tremor, of magnitude 6.2, which took place at 21:56 local time (09:56 GMT) and whose epicenter stood at a depth of 69 kilometers, almost 200 kilometers east of the capital of Kamchatka.
After hours, Russia deactivated Tsunami’s alert, according to the emergency minister of the Kamchatka region, Serguéi Lébedev.
Japan recovers calm
Japan, one of the countries most impacted by the earthquake, managed to recover calm after several hours of chaos. Japanese authorities deactivated the tsunami risk alert throughout its Pacific coast although they continue to recommend caution.
On the Japanese coasts tsunamis of different height were observed, which reached 1.3 meters in Iwate (northeast), 80 centimeters in Hokkaido (north) or 30 cm in Yokohama (southern Tokyo).
Subsequently, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) reduced to “Notice by risk of tsunami” the alert that had been enabled throughout the coastal zone from Hokkaido (north of the country) to Kyushu, the largest southwestern island that composes the Japanese archipelago.
The fear of a Tsunami led local authorities to issue evacuation orders that affected some 2 million people and also suffered serious alterations, rail and aerial traffic throughout the day in the country, affecting the metropolitan area of Tokyo and surroundings, where a quarter of the Japanese population is concentrated, or the Sendai airport (northeast).
The situation relaxes in the US
The United States National Security Secretary Kristi Noem said that the threat of a serious tsunami in the country “has passed completely”, although some preventive alerts on the west coast are maintained.
“We are in a very good shape at this time,” Noem told the press, during a visit to Chile. “We have reduced the threat of Tsunami that was established for Hawaii and some regions that also affected Alaska. We still have a warning and an alert for the west coast, but we anticipate a minimum impact,” he said.
The Tsunami reached the coast of California and was registered in the tide -freeation of Arena Cove, Monterrey and Crescent City. The latter is under Tsunami warning, being the highest alert level.
The Pacific Tsunamis Alert Center, however, reduced its threat alert for Hawai although it warned that “strong currents could occur along all the coasts that could represent a danger to swimmers, navigators and people near the shore on beaches, ports and marine.”
Tsunami notices for Guam and the Mariana Islands of the North have also been canceled.
For its part, the Government of Mexico canceled the Tsunami alert issued on Tuesday night after an evaluation of sea level in the country’s coast and the monitoring of what happened in the area of the Epicenter of the earthquake.
Central America and South America, guards
Central America, on the other hand, maintains a “surveillance alert for the possible arrival of waves between 30 centimeters and one meter high,” according to the Institute of Geosciences of the University of Panama.
That center pointed out that the “Tsunami evacuation alert is applied only to the western coasts of the United States, Japan and the Hawaii Islands”, while “in the rest of the countries of Central America and some of South America the surveillance alert is maintained due to the possible arrival of the waves between 30 cm and a meter high.”
The Peruvian coast is on alert and at least 65 ports in the country are closed, at the expectation of the arrival of a ‘wave train’ in the next few hours, which will travel the coast from north to south with waves of up to 2.31 meters.
In addition, in the province of Palpa, on the central coast of Peru, an earthquake of magnitude 4 was recorded today, without reporting material or personal damage, and another shook the province of Canas, in the southern region of Cuzco, with magnitude 3.6.
In Chile, the Disaster Prevention and Response Service (Senapred) declared the red alert and the evacuation of all the communes of the coastal edge, from the regions of Arica and Parinacota, at the north end, to Magellan, at its southernmost point.
However, the Senapred canceled on Wednesday afternoon the Tsunami alert for the Antarctica region and reduced it to caution on Easter Island and San Félix, but kept it on the central and northern coast, where an evacuation alert has been launched that affects 1.5 million people.
In Costa Rica, a yellow alert (surveillance) was declared and aquatic activities were suspended during the early hours of the day because “extraordinary currents” are expected.
Evacuation in Galapagos
For its part, the Galapagos National Park in Ecuador ordered the temporary closure of the visiting sites in protected areas that involve maritime access, presence on beaches and public use areas, such as caution.
In addition, 1,480 inhabitants and tourists of islands such as Santa Cruz -the most populous in the Galapagos archipelago -and Isabela -the largest, were evacuated preventively.
However, the situation returned to normal in the afternoon on Wednesday, after the Oceanographic Institute of Ecuador’s Navy canceled the Tsunami alert.
Similar situation was presented in Colombia, where the government canceled the Tsunami alert issued on Tuesday following the decline in waves on the coast of the departments of Nariño, Cauca, Valle del Cauca and Chocó.
