Tsunami alerts were issued for Alaska and Hawaii on Tuesday after a major, 8.8 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Russia, according to officials.

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.

Tsunami waves hit the West Coast of the United States after a massive 8.8-magnitude earthquake, one of the most powerful ever recorded, struck off Russia’s coast. The impact is causing piers to close in California amid tsunami advisories and water surging in Hawaii.