On July 30th at 7:24 AM, an 8.8 magnitude earthquake struck the far offshore waters off the eastern coast of Kamchatka, Russia, with a depth of 20 kilometers (source parameters revised). At 10:52 AM on the same day, the Tsunami Warning Center of the Ministry of Natural Resources of China issued a yellow tsunami warning, forecasting that the tsunami would impact areas such as Zhejiang and Shanghai.
It was the strongest earthquake to hit the eastern offshore waters of the Kamchatka Peninsula since 1952. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) revised the magnitude twice, from 8.0 to 8.7 and finally to 8.8. The Emergency Situations Minister of the Kamchatka Territory in the Russian Far East stated that following the powerful earthquake, tsunami waves measuring 3 to 4 meters high were observed along parts of the peninsula’s coast. Russia, the United States, Hawaii, Japan, and Canada issued tsunami warnings in various locations.
According to the National Marine Forecasting Center, at 10:52 AM on July 30th, the Tsunami Warning Center of the Ministry of Natural Resources of China also issued a yellow tsunami warning. As of 11 AM, monitoring data indicated that tsunami buoys near the epicenter had detected waves of up to 90 cm, with Japan and Russia’s coastlines observing waves of 30 to 50 cm. It is predicted that the tsunami will reach the coastal waters of Zhejiang and Shanghai between 5 to 8 PM, with the expected maximum wave heights of 40 cm in northern Zhejiang and 30 cm in Shanghai.
In fact, the Kamchatka Peninsula has always been a region with frequent seismic activity. As early as July 20th, an earthquake measuring between 7.4 to 7.6 had occurred, followed by over 400 aftershocks to date. According to a statement released on Telegram by the Kamchatka Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Geophysical Survey, numerous aftershocks can be expected in the next month, with the highest potential magnitude reaching up to 7.5.