Magnitude 8.8 earthquake kills nobody at all, apparently

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A powerful magnitude 8.8 earthquake struck off Russia's far eastern Kamchatka Peninsula at about 11:25 local time on Wednesday.

Tsunami warnings and evacuation orders were issued around the world, including in Japan, Ecuador, Hawaii and the west coast of North America.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/cwy01l5kgxno

Sakhalin, a coastal bit of Russia, with very competent people who evacuate entire towns on one hour's notice.

Hawaii in predictably performative panic mode, after which not much happened. I'd go so far as to say nothing beyond uninformed hysteria.

Big earthquake though.

More news later that day: A Siberian volcano responded to the kick by erupting, a Soviet-era daycare wall collapsed and a car in Japan drove off a cliff during an official evacuation. The whole of Hawaii did indeed stop for the day (though their volcano slept through it all). I expect they'll ring FEMA for a federal emergency aid package and discover DOGE cancelled the phone line.

Well done Russia, anyway.

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An expedition group from the Russian Geographical Society was on the Kuril island of Shumshu when the tsunami swept away their tent camp, AFP reports.

“When the wave hit, all we could do was run to higher ground. It’s very difficult to do that in boots on slippery grass and in fog,” group member Vera Kostamo told Russian tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda.

“All the tents and structures were swept away by the wave, and our belongings were scattered across the beach for hundreds of metres. We have no casualties, everyone acted quickly, but we lost all our belongings.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/ ... op-of-blog

A team of medics was in the middle of surgery in the far eastern Russian city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky when one of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded shook their equipment and the floor beneath them.

The medics used their hands to try to steady both the patient and their equipment, CCTV footage released by the Kamchatka region’s health ministry showed.

“Despite the danger, the doctors remained calm and stayed with the patient until the very end,” Oleg Melnikov, the minister, wrote on Telegram. He gave no details of the surgery but said the patient was out of danger.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said there had been no casualties in Russia from the 8.8 magnitude earthquake, crediting solid building construction and the smooth working of alert systems.

Still, there were scenes of chaos along Russia’s remote and sparsely populated far eastern seaboard, and scattered reports of damage.
Roman Kripakov, a chef in Severo-Kurilsk on Paramushir, one of the Pacific Kuril Islands chain, said he was at the cafe where he works when it began to shake.

“We ran out onto the street, and saw that all the buildings were trembling. Pipes, bricks, they were all falling down from the roofs,” he told Reuters. “Did I think about death? Yes, it did come to mind. I asked everyone for forgiveness, and recalled happy moments in my life. I wrote to my wife.”

A verified video shot by a Severo-Kurilsk resident showed water engulfing a fish processing plant as it rushed inland, carrying a lightweight metal building and containers with it. A woman can be heard cursing as she laments the loss of the plant. “Our factory is sinking along with our seafood production,” she says.

They're what sagas used to be written about.