Photo: Ministry of Natural Resources

China’s Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) activated a Level-II marine disaster emergency response at 10 am on Wednesday for East China’s Zhejiang Province and Shanghai, following an 8.8-magnitude earthquake that struck waters off Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula earlier in the morning.

The ministry instructed its tsunami advisory center to continuously update tsunami alert, while its East China Sea bureau was ordered to enhance monitoring. Relevant units were tasked with conducting monitoring and early warnings, consultations and assessments, as well as disaster investigation and evaluation.

The emergency response was launched after the earthquake, which struck at 7:24 am Beijing time (52.53°N, 160.16°E) at a depth of 20 kilometers. The ministry had previously issued a yellow tsunami warning.

Based on the latest monitoring and analysis, the earthquake has triggered a tsunami and is expected to cause destructive impact along coastal areas in Shanghai, southern Zhoushan, eastern Taipei, eastern and southeastern Pingtung, southeastern Taitung, northeastern Taitung, Hualien, and Yilan, the ministry said.

The center, based on global tsunami monitoring data, reported on Wednesday that, as of 10:30 am, tsunami buoys near the epicenter had detected tsunami waves measuring 90 centimeters. Tsunami waves between 30 and 50 centimeters were also observed along the coasts of Japan and Russia.

Tsunami is forecast to reach Taiwan region’s coast around 1:30 pm, and the coastal areas of Zhejiang and Shanghai between 5 pm and 7 pm. Maximum wave heights are expected to reach 60 centimeters, 40 centimeters, and 30 centimeters, according to the MNR release.

The MNR also warned that Typhoon Co-May is currently moving inland across Zhejiang Province and is expected to bring storm surges of about 100 centimeters to coastal areas in Zhejiang and Shanghai. “Under the combined impact of the tsunami and typhoon, coastal regions must remain highly vigilant and take all necessary measures for disaster prevention and mitigation,” the ministry said.

The ministry further noted that the earthquake struck near the boundary of the Pacific and North American plates. In the source region, the Pacific Plate is moving northwest-west relative to the North American Plate at a rate of about 77 millimeters per year.

“The location and mechanism of this earthquake are consistent with the activity characteristics of plate boundary faults along the Kuril-Kamchatka subduction zone,” the MNR said, adding that the region has historically been prone to moderate-to-large earthquakes. The epicenter is located about 45 kilometers southeast of the epicenter of the 1952 magnitude-9.0 Kamchatka Peninsula earthquake, which triggered a devastating trans-Pacific tsunami.