India, July 30 -- A major earthquake of magnitude 8.8 hit the Far East of Russia early Wednesday, off the Kamchatka Peninsula, shaking the Pacific region and sending out tsunami warnings in the Pacific Basin.

The US Geological Survey registered a shallow tremor and said it had the power to cause waves of up to 13 feet (4 meters) to crash into the Kamchatka coast.

This caused mass evacuations and tsunami warnings in Russia, Japan, Hawaii, Alaska, and the West Coast of the United States.

Authorities in these regions are urging coastal residents to move to higher ground immediately amid fears of additional waves and aftershocks.

Kamchatka Governor Vladimir Solodov called it a "serious and the strongest in decades." He confirmed that a ki...