Kamchatka Tsunami Rises to 15 Meters

Igor Medvedev, head of the tsunami laboratory at the Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute of Oceanology, said the recent earthquake in the Kamchatka region was the strongest during the entire monitoring period.

The expert pointed out that very strong earthquakes caused a tsunami in the region, as well as in the nearby Sakhalin province.

He added: "According to our recorded results, in some coastal areas of Kamchatka, the tsunami may have reached heights of 10-15 meters".

According to the expert, a rapid assessment of the nature of tsunami wave propagation and heights was carried out in the northwest Pacific using numerical modeling.

He said: "The largest tsunami waves were observed near the epicenter area, namely on the southeast coast of Kamchatka and the northern Kuril Islands. According to eyewitness reports, tsunami wave heights exceeded six meters in several places in Kamchatka and near the village of Severo-Kurilsk".

The expert noted that tsunami centers in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk immediately sounded the alarm and recommended evacuating residents from at-risk areas.