What we know
- Tsunami waves reached Hawaii, California and Washington after one of the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded.
- The 8.8-magnitude temblor struck early today off Russia’s remote Far East and sparked tsunami warnings and evacuations across the Pacific.
- Hawaii was braced for the most severe impact, but the alert level was downgraded to a tsunami advisory just before 5 a.m. ET, allowing residents to return to their homes. The all clear was given for the entire state later in the day.
- Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said this morning that the threat of damage from a “major” tsunami on the U.S. coast has “passed completely.”
- Waves also hit Japan, where nearly 2 million people were asked to evacuate, and Russia's Kuril Islands in the Pacific. No deaths were immediately reported.
Even after advisory passes in California, 'ocean remains dynamic and dangerous'
The tsunami advisory for the San Francisco Bay area and other parts of California has passed, but “water levels are continuing to fluctuate,” forecasters said.
“The ocean remains dynamic and dangerous,” the National Weather Service for the region said this afternoon, warning of strong currents and other hazards.
The weather service announced shortly after 11 a.m. PT that the tsunami advisory for the Bay Area and the California central coast had been canceled.
Around 2:40 p.m., the tsunami advisory for Southern California was canceled.
But strong rip currents will remain for the next couple of days, and the weather service for Los Angeles warned beachgoers to check with lifeguards before they enter the water.
24 aftershocks of magnitude 5 or more followed huge quake
The massive 8.8-magnitude earthquake off Russia’s eastern coast, which caused tsunami alerts for a wide swath of the Pacific, was followed by at least 24 significant aftershocks, officials said.
Twenty-four aftershocks of magnitude 5 or greater had been recorded as of midnight ET, the U.S. Geological Survey said. They included 6.9- and 6.3-magnitude aftershocks, the agency said.
The earthquakes happened in the “Kuril-Kamchatka subduction zone,” which is where the Pacific plate subducts — or slides under — the North American plate, the USGS said.
"This wasn’t just a single point on a map — USGS modeling shows the quake ruptured a fault zone roughly 500 km long and 150 km wide, caused by the massive Pacific plate diving beneath the North American plate in one of the fastest subduction zones on Earth," the USGS said.
Cruise passengers stranded in Hawaii after tsunami warning prompted ship to leave port
Amanda Berry and her family had ventured off their Norwegian Cruise Line ship in Hawaii on an excursion to a volcano near Hilo when their phones started buzzing with tsunami alerts.
Berry told NBC News she wasn't fazed at first — she's from Houston, after all, where, she said, she often gets alerts that amount to nothing.
That was until they got off the tour buses and began exploring the volcano. Almost immediately after they disembarked, Berry said, employees started yelling at her group: "Go back, go back, go back. Your ship is going to leave early. You're going to miss it."
The ship had been told to leave the port immediately and get out to sea, where it would be safe from tsunami waves, Berry said.
They inched through traffic and pulled up to the port as the ship was closing its gates, Berry recalled. "It was at that moment where I actually got scared," she said.
After they spending spent some time reassuring their loved ones that they'd be fine, "we felt pretty confident that we were going to be OK," Berry said.
"We knew that we would be safe. We had confidence in the Hawaiian people, Hawaiian shelters, and also [Norwegian Cruise Line] getting us to a safe place," Berry said. They had been stuck at a shelter for longer than expected, in less than favorable conditions, she added, but the people in Hilo "opened their hearts to us."
Berry, who goes by "Mandy the Cruise Planner" on social media, has been documenting her experience on TikTok, racking up hundreds of thousands of views on the series.
She had plenty of praise for the Norwegian Cruise Line employees but expressed some frustration with the company's delayed communications and broken promises about when the ship will return to retrieve them. She's hoping for a refund on the excursion that got derailed.
Even still, Berry has been trying to make lemonade out of lemons.
"I would still do this cruise again," she said. "Maybe that makes me a little odd or maybe even a little bit crazy, but I'm trying to take it all in a stride and just be appreciative that, hey, if something bad is going to happen to you, at least it's happened in paradise."
CORRECTION (July 31, 2025, 7:45 p.m. ET): A previous version of this post misstated where Amanda Berry was when tsunami alerts went out. She was on an excursion from Hilo, not to a volcano in Hilo.
Pictures: Scenes from Russia of tsunami and quake damage
Hawaii cancels tsunami advisory
The Hawaii Emergency Management Agency issued an all clear for the entire state.
New Zealand: Strong and unusual currents expected
Coastal areas of New Zealand will experience strong and unusual currents and unpredictable surges at the shore after the Kamchatka earthquake, its National Emergency Management Agency warned.
The areas under threat include coastal areas of the North Island, Great Barrier Island, the South Island, Stewart Island and the Chatham Islands.
“Strong currents and surges can injure and drown people. There is a danger to swimmers, surfers, people fishing, and anyone in or near the water close to shore,” the agency warned early Thursday local time (Wednesday afternoon ET).
People who live on boats or at marinas are urged to leave and move to shore and avoid beaches and shore areas. Flooding near the shore is not expected.
The agency said tsunami activity has already reached parts of the country.
“The first currents and surges are unlikely to be the largest and are expected to continue over many hours,” officials said.
What to know about the Russian earthquake and global tsunami warnings
Quake strikes Russia's remote Far East, triggering tsunami
- The powerful 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck today. Russia’s Tass news agency reported from the biggest city near the epicenter, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, that cars swayed in the street and cabinets toppled over in homes. The first tsunami wave in Russia hit the coastal area of Severo-Kurilsk.
One of the strongest earthquakes in history
- The earthquake is tied for the sixth-largest ever recorded, and ot is the world’s largest since the 2011 earthquake off Japan that set off the Fukushima tsunami and nuclear meltdown, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Tsunami waves reached Pacific coast
- The first waves reached Hawaii around 7:30 p.m. local time (1:30 a.m. ET). Waves also hit California, Washington and Japan, where nearly 2 million people were asked to evacuate.
Hawaii: Every county issued an all clear to return to evacuation areas
All counties in Hawaii have issued the all clear to return to tsunami evacuation areas, the state Transportation Department said.
No damage has been reported to state highways, and all airports have resumed operations. Waterside checks are still being conducted, but landslide operations of ports have been cleared, and port gates are open.
Tsunami flooding, quake damage observed on Russian island
Homes and services facilities have been partially damaged in the Severo-Kurilsk municipality of Russia, officials said.
A tsunami threat has been lifted from Severo-Kurilsk municipality on Sakhalin Island in the Pacific Ocean, north of Japan.
The Russian Emergency Situations Ministry said other damage included flooding at the Severo-Kurilsk port and the adjacent Alaid fishing enterprise.
People in Japan evacuate to rooftops after tsunami alert
Video captured people gathering on top of roofs in the northern Japanese coastal community of Mukawa after a tsunami alert was issued for the country. People in Tokyo were also warned to stayed away from beaches.
