A tsunami advisory was also issued for parts of Alaska and the entire West Coast after a powerful earthquake off Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula.

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.

The sixth most powerful earthquake on record triggered widespread evacuation orders across multiple countries including the US and Japan