Japan issues tsunami warning after major quake off Kamchatka

TOKYO -- Japan's Meteorological Agency issued a tsunami warning for wide areas along the Pacific coast on Wednesday morning following a powerful earthquake off the eastern coast of Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula.

The warning, issued at 9:40 a.m. local time, raises the earlier advisory to a full alert, with waves up to 3 meters expected.

The warning covers coastal regions from Hokkaido to Wakayama Prefecture, including areas such as Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi, Fukushima, Chiba, Ibaraki, Shizuoka, and parts of the Izu islands.

Authorities are urging residents in the affected regions to evacuate immediately to high ground or upper floors of sturdy buildings if elevated terrain is not nearby.

The Meteorological Agency emphasized that tsunami waves may exceed predicted heights, surge inland, and arrive in multiple waves with increasing intensity.