Sri Lanka, July 30 -- With a tsunami hitting the coastal areas of Russia's Kuril Islands and Japan's large northern island of Hokkaido and warnings ringing across Pacific Islands and the US, local officials have ruled out any threat to Sri Lanka.

The tsunami warnings came after an 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck Russia's Far East early Wednesday. The Japan Meteorological Agency said a first tsunami wave of about 30 cm reached Nemuro on the eastern coast of Hokkaido. Damage and evacuations were reported in the Russian regions nearest the quake's epicenter on the Kamchatka Peninsula.

The first tsunami wave hit the coastal area of Severo-Kurilsk, the main settlement on Russia's Kuril Islands in the Pacific, according to the local governor ...