A tsunami warning has been issued for Hawaii, where waves set off by an 8.8-magnitude earthquake in Russia’s remote Far East are expected to arrive after 7 p.m. local time.

"It's not one that's going to cause mass devastation. But it will cause coastal flooding and it will cause damage and it does put lives at risk if people don't move to high ground," an oceanography professor says.

(Reuters) -A powerful magnitude 8.8 earthquake off Russia's Far Eastern Kamchatka Peninsula triggered tsunami waves of up to 5 metres (16 feet) and sparked evacuation orders in Hawaii and across the Pacific on Wednesday.