Small tsunami waves triggered when one of the world’s most powerful earthquakes struck off the coast of southeastern Russia were expected to hit parts of British Columbia’s coast late Tuesday, the province’s emergency information agency said.
Social media posts from Emergency Info BC said waves measuring less than 30 centimetres were expected to reach Tofino around 11:30 p.m.
The waves were first expected to reach remote Langara Island at the northern tip of Haida Gwaii around 10:05 p.m.
“Waves arrive in a series and the first may not be the biggest,” the provincial agency said as it encouraged people in affected areas to stay away from the shoreline.
The earthquake’s preliminary magnitude of 8.8 would make it one of the strongest ever recorded, with reports from Russia and Japan saying a tsunami had already hit some coastal areas.
Multiple aftershocks with one as strong as 6.9 in magnitude were recorded.
A tsunami advisory was in effect for much of B.C.’s coast, including Greater Victoria.
The affected B.C. zones included the North Coast and Haida Gwaii, the Central Coast and northeastern Vancouver Island, including Kitimat, Bella Coola and Port Hardy, and the outer west coast of Vancouver Island from Cape Scott to Port Renfrew.
The tsunami advisory also covered the Juan de Fuca Strait from the Jordan River area to Greater Victoria, including the Saanich Peninsula.
The U.S. National Tsunami Warning Center had initially issued a lower-level tsunami watch, then upgraded it to an advisory that stretches from B.C.’s north coast to California’s border with Mexico.
The centre’s website shows a tsunami advisory is the second of three warning levels used by the United States and Canada.
The bulletin from Emergency Info BC said local governments in affected areas were urged to activate their emergency plans and consider evacuating marinas, beaches and other areas near the ocean.
An advisory posted by Environment Canada, meanwhile, said there was a “possibility of strong localized currents.”
It said no significant inundation was expected but low-lying coastal areas and beaches may be at risk.
The weather agency said people in coastal areas were advised to stay away from the shoreline and stay alert for any instructions from emergency authorities.
The tsunami advisory did not include the Strait of Georgia, Gulf Islands, Johnstone Strait or Greater Vancouver.
The quake struck just before 4:25 p.m. Pacific time on Tuesday, occurring about 119 kilometres east-southeast of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, a city of about 180,000 residents in Russia’s Kamchatka region.
If the preliminary magnitude of 8.8 is confirmed, the quake would be among the 10 most powerful recorded since 1900, and the most powerful since the devastating 2011 Tohoku earthquake off Japan, according to a list compiled by the U.S. Geological Survey.
Russian news agencies reported damage and evacuations in areas nearest the quake’s epicentre on the Kamchatka peninsula, but no serious injuries.
There were reports from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky that people had run out into the street without shoes or outerwear, while cabinets toppled inside homes, mirrors were broken, cars swayed in the street and balconies on buildings shook.
Tsunami warning sirens blared in Honolulu, where people were told to move to higher ground after the quake.
In Japan, the national meteorological agency issued a tsunami warning and said waves of 40 centimetres had been detected in Tokachi, on the southern coast of Hokkaido, the northernmost of the country’s main islands.
— With files from The Associated Press
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 29, 2025.
Brenna Owen, The Canadian Press
