But the danger appeared to be waning in some places, with the US state of Hawaii and Japan downgrading their warnings. Authorities on Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula and Kuril Islands near the quake’s epicentre also cancelled their tsunami warning on Wednesday evening after a flooded seaport town there had earlier been evacuated.

Tsunami waves have reached California and Hawaii several hours after a powerful 8.8 magnitude earthquake in Russia's Far East. The U.S. National Tsunami Warning Center said Wednesday morning that tsunami waves measuring 1.6 feet above tide level have been observed in Arena Cove in the U.S. state of California.

People flocked to evacuation centers in affected areas of Japan, with memories fresh of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that caused reactor meltdowns at