Across the Pacific, fear over the potential for a major tsunami is giving way to relief.

One by one, tsunami warnings were lifted throughout the day on Wednesday, July 30, in most of the many countries bordering the Pacific Ocean. These alarm systems were triggered after the magnitude 8.8 earthquake recorded Tuesday, July 30, at 11:24 p.m. by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) in the Kamchatka region of eastern Russia.

This earthquake, the most powerful in this region for seventy-three years, has raised fears of seeing fifteen countries submerged by tsunamis, including one of the five archipelagos of French Polynesia, the Marquesas Islands.

These islands experienced hours of anguish and feared the worst during the night from Tuesday to Wednesday. Waves of 2.50 meters were first announced, then 4 meters. Those that hit the large northern island of Nuku-Hiva and to a lesser extent Ua-Huka, further east, and Hiva-Oa further south, finally reached 1.50 meters. Only three islands, out of the 118 (including the atolls) that make up French Polynesia, were affected by the alert; the others only experienced very modest waves.

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