QuickTake:

The powerful quake had triggered tsunami advisories and watches for the entire western coast of the United States. It was the most significant tsunami alert on the Oregon Coast in more than a decade.

The National Tsunami Warning Center has canceled an advisory for the Oregon Coast, including Florence and Newport, following an 8.8 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Russia’s eastern Kamchatka Peninsula.

The earthquake struck at 4:25 p.m. Pacific time Tuesday, July 29, about 80 miles offshore. At 46 miles deep, the relatively shallow quake prompted international tsunami alerts, including the entire West Coast of the U.S.

The National Weather Service in Portland, which coordinates with the National Tsunami Warning Center and serves as the forecasting office for Lane County, issued a “tsunami watch” around 6 p.m. Tuesday for the Oregon Coast. It was later upgraded to a more urgent “tsunami advisory,” which urged people to stay away from beaches, harbors, marinas, breakwaters, bays and inlets.

Lane County Emergency Management and the city of Florence monitored the situation in coordination with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The distance from the earthquake’s epicenter affects the threat level — closer areas face faster, more destructive waves, while distant regions may see the tail end of the effects, with reduced force but still hazardous conditions.

“It is a ripple effect,” said Noah Alviz, a meteorologist with the weather service’s Portland office. “It is a common misconception that a tsunami is one big wave. It is multiple waves, essentially.” 

“There is a lot more energy than a normal wave and, crashing down, it will run up much further along the coast or the shoreline,” he said. Tsunami waves from 1 to 3 feet have been reported in Charleston, Port Orford and Brookings. 

As of Wednesday morning, tidal buoys collected data showing unusual wave activity and sea level changes consistent with tsunami conditions, prompting officials to keep the advisory in place. The National Tsunami Warning Center canceled the advisory at 10:20 a.m. Wednesday.

The earthquake in Russia’s Far East ranks among the strongest ever recorded. The last time tsunami alerts were issued across the West Coast was after Japan’s devastating 2011 quake, according to the National Weather Service.