Tsunami watch issued for much of B.C. coast after M8.7 quake off Russian coast

A powerful earthquake off the coast of eastern Russia has prompted a tsunami watch for much of the British Columbia coast.

The magnitude 8.7 quake struck 136 kilometres southeast of Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula shortly before 4:30 p.m. PST on Tuesday.

The Tsunami watch covers the North Coast and Haida Gwaii (Zone A), the Central Coast and Northeast Vancouver Island (Zone B), the outer west coast of Vancouver Island from Cape Scott to Port Renfrew (Zone C), and the Juan de Fuca Strait from Jordan River to Greater Victoria (Zone D).

The Strait of Georgia, the Gulf Islands, Greater Vancouver and the Johnstone Strait are not affected.

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You can see detailed maps of the affected areas here.

Japan’s meteorological agency issued a tsunami alert for the country’s Pacific coast warning of a tsunami of up to three metres, while a tsunami warning was also extended to Hawaii, detailing the potential to cause damage along the coastlines of all the Hawaiian islands.

A tsunami watch is an advance notice that an area could be affected by an incoming tsunami, and is intended to give people time to prepare to take action.

They are issued when the level of danger posed by a potential tsunami is not yet known.

People who live in the affected zones are urged to get out of the ocean and away from beaches and harbours, to stay alert for further updates from local authorities and to minimize the use of phone lines.

Boat owners should, where time and conditions allow, move their vessel out to sea to a depth of at least 180 feet.

More to come…