Tsunami evacuations ordered in South America, but worst risk appears to pass for US

Cars are at a standstill along the Pan-American Highway in Panama City

Fears of a devastating tsunami across the Pacific faded yesterday [Macau time] after one of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded struck off a sparsely populated Russian peninsula, but communities along South America’s Pacific coast carried out evacuations and closed beaches.

Warnings in the first hours after the 8.8 magnitude quake sent people fleeing to rooftops in Japan and forced tourists out of beachfront hotels in Hawaii, snarling island traffic. One death was reported in Japan, and in Russia, several people were hurt while rushing out of buildings, including a hospital patient who jumped from a window.

Millions of people were told to move away from the shore or seek high ground because they were potentially in the path of the tsunami waves, which struck seaside areas of Japan, Hawaii and the U.S. West Coast but did not appear to cause any major damage.

The dire warnings following the massive quake early Wednesday off Russia’s Kamchatka peninsula evoked memories of catastrophic damage caused by tsunamis this century.

In Japan, people flocked to evacuation centers.