The worst appeared to have passed for many areas, including the U.S., Japan and Russia. But along South America's Pacific Coast, new warnings were forcing evacuations in Chile and Colombia.
In the immediate aftermath of the quake off Russia’s Kamchatka peninsula, residents fled inland as ports flooded, and several were injured while rushing to leave buildings.
In Japan, people flocked to evacuation centers, hilltop parks and rooftops in towns on the Pacific coast with fresh memories of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that caused a nuclear disaster.
Cars jammed streets and highways in Honolulu, with standstill traffic even in areas away from the sea.
“We’ve got water, we got some snacks ... we’re going to stay elevated,” said Jimmy Markowski, whose family from Hot Springs, Arkansas, fled their Waikiki beach resort before evacuation orders were lifted. “This is our first tsunami warning ever. So this is all new to us.”
While tsunami advisories remain in place along much of the U.S. West Coast, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said the worst was over.
“We were fully deployed and ready to respond if necessary but grateful that we didn’t have to deal with the situation that this could have been,” she told reporters in Chile, where she is meeting officials.
