The earth is shaking violently off the far eastern peninsula of Kamchatka.

A severe earthquake off Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula has triggered tsunami warnings along the eastern coasts of Russia and Japan, as well as in western US states. With a magnitude of 8.8, the quake was the strongest worldwide since the Fukushima disaster in March 2011, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS) – and has only been surpassed by five other earthquakes since measurements began. The Russian state news agency TASS reported the magnitude at 8.7, while the German Research Center for Geosciences (GFZ) in Potsdam put it at 7.8.

The epicenter of the earthquake was reportedly in the open sea, about 130 kilometers off the sparsely populated coast of Kamchatka, and relatively deep beneath the seabed. According to Tass reporters, frightened people ran barefoot outside in the regional capital of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. Wardrobes toppled over, cars skidded on shaky roads, and a kindergarten building was severely damaged. The power and telephone networks partially collapsed. In the Russian region of Sakhalin, coastal residents were evacuated as a precaution.

Japanese authorities upgraded their tsunami warning this morning (local time), warning that tsunami waves up to three meters high were threatening the Pacific coast. Residents along the coast were urged to seek shelter. Tsunami waves of 40 centimeters in height were initially recorded along the coast of the northern prefectures of Hokkaido and Aomori, according to Japanese television station NHK. There were no reports of irregularities at nuclear power plants.

The US government's tsunami early warning system also reported waves up to three meters high that could reach the coast of Hawaii, thousands of kilometers from the epicenter of the earthquake, shortly after 7 a.m. this morning. Coastal residents should immediately leave the endangered areas or seek shelter in buildings at least ten stories high, it said. A tsunami warning was also issued for Alaska's west coast. Farther Pacific countries such as the Philippines and Indonesia were also preparing for impending tidal waves.