A cruise ship passenger has detailed the 'scary' warnings she received after a 8.8 magnitude earthquake prompted tsunami alerts to sound in Hawaii.
The earthquake struck on July 30 off the coast of Russia’s remote Far East, with its epicenter located on the Kamchatka Peninsula.
The quake has been recorded as the sixth-strongest ever, and resulted in multiple tsunami warnings and advisories being issued in countries including Japan and the US.
Within hours of the first earthquake, waves of more than five feet began to hit in Hawaii, prompting authorities to order people to evacuate.
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Rachel Burrows, from the UK, is currently cruising in the Pacific on vacation, and on July 29 local time she was exploring The Big Island when she and other passengers suddenly got alerts on their phone warning that they were in 'immediate danger' of a tsunami.
The warning advised passengers that they needed to 'move away from the coast and get to higher ground', and the warnings only intensified from there.
According to Rachel, who spoke with BBC News, passengers started receiving estimated times of 'when the tsunami would hit', as well as hearing 'all the sirens' that started going off on the island to warn of the 'serious' threat.
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"Everyone was just running to get on the ship because they were closing the ship off because we needed to get out to sea," she said, adding: "We were luckily one of the last ones that got back on to the cruise ship and then we could see a lot of other people getting dropped off and lining up, but they didn't make it, they were told to get to higher ground on shore, so it was quite scary."
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTSC) initially forecast that the first tsunami waves would hit Hawaii around 7:17pm local time on July 29.
Flooding was reported in a number of areas along the shore and officials urged people to move inland, with the Oahu Department of Emergency Services sharing a post on X, formerly Twitter, which read: "Take Action NOW! Tsunami waves are currently impacting Hawaii."
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However, the initial warning was later downgraded to an advisory, which is given when a tsunami with the potential to generate strong currents or waves is 'imminent, expected, or occurring', the government's tsunami website explains.
It adds: "The threat may continue for several hours after initial arrival, but significant inundation is not expected for areas under an advisory. Appropriate actions to be taken by local officials may include closing beaches, evacuating harbors and marinas, and the repositioning of ships to deep waters when there is time to safely do so."
Topics: Cruise ship, Environment, Hawaii, Travel
Emily Brown