Hours after a massive 8.8 magnitude earthquake struck near the Russian coast, becoming one of the strongest tremors ever recorded, tsunami waves arrived in Hawaii and the U.S. West Coast following efforts to get hundreds of thousands away from coastlines and to higher ground.

A tsunami warning issued for Hawaii after one of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded, an 8.8 magnitude in Russia's Far East, was downgraded to an advisory after small waves peaked.

A powerful 8.8 magnitude earthquake off Russia's far eastern Kamchatka Peninsula has triggered tsunami warnings in Japan and several states in the western United States, including Hawaii, Alaska and California.