Flood waves triggered by the powerful earthquake that struck off the Russian Kamchatka Peninsula are expected to reach Pacific states in the coming hours, experts say.

It usually takes a few hours for the waves to reach the coast, Charlotte Krawczyk from Germany’s Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences (GFZ), told dpa on Wednesday.

A number of countries bordering the Pacific, including Russia, Japan, the U.S., Canada, the Philippines, and Indonesia, as well as nations in Central and South America, have issued tsunami warnings.

The warning came following the underwater quake that occurred at 2324 GMT on Tuesday about 136 kilometres south-east of Kamchatka, a remote peninsula in Russia’s Far East.

U.S. scientists measured a magnitude of 8.8, while the Russian Academy of Sciences put the earthquake at 8.7, saying it was the most severe tremor since 1952.

According to Ms Krawczyk, flood waves about 1 metre high have since hit Japan’s Pacific coast and Hawaii.

But the expert cautioned that even if flood waves turn out to be comparatively small in the next few hours, that does not mean the worst is over.

A number of aftershocks, some of them severe, have since been recorded, Ms Krawczyk noted, with some reaching a magnitude of 6.

She also pointed to a number of tremors that were recorded in the Kamchatka region some 10 days ago, which was followed by apparent calm until Wednesday’s earthquake hit.

The expert said, “That needs to be monitored.’’

(dpa/NAN)