Photo: USGS / Screenshot
There is no tsunami risk to New Zealand after a magnitude 8.0 earthquake in the Pacific near Russia.
The magnitude 8 earthquake struck 74 kilometres deep off the eastern coast of Russia before noon on Wednesday.
NEMA has since confirmed there is no threat to New Zealand after assessing the risk.
Notable quake, preliminary info: M 8.0 – 136 km ESE of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Russia https://t.co/pecsU8xcSy
— USGS Earthquakes (@USGS_Quakes) July 29, 2025
There were no injuries reported after the strongest earthquake “in decades” off Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula on Wednesday, but evacuation was ordered for a small town in the Sakhalin region after a tsunami warning, regional governors said.
“Today’s earthquake was serious and the strongest in decades of tremors,” Kamchatka Governor Vladimir Solodov said in a video posted on the Telegram messaging app.
He said that according to preliminary information there were no injuries, but a kindergarten was damaged.
Sakhalin Governor Valery Limarenko said on Telegram an evacuation order was declared for the small town of Severo-Kurilsk after a tsunami warning was issued following the earthquake.
The Japan Weather Agency said it expected a tsunami of 1 metre to reach large coastal areas starting around 0100 GMT.
The US Tsunami Warning System also issued a warning of “hazardous tsunami waves” within the next three hours along some coasts of Russia and Japan.
A tsunami watch is now in effect for Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.
RNZ / Reuters