A massive earthquake struck Russia on Wednesday morning, triggering a tsunami wave along the country's eastern coast.

It damaged buildings and prompted evacuation warnings in the region, as well as much of Japan's east coast, officials said.

An 8.8 magnitude earthquake struck the Russian Far East on Wednesday morning, triggering a tsunami in the coastal areas of the Kuril Islands and the Japanese island of Hokkaido.

Tsunami warning sirens were also sounded in Honolulu, the capital of the US Hawaiian Islands, urging residents to seek higher ground. In Haleiwa, on the north coast of Oahu, Hawaii, a rise of 1.2 meters was recorded.

A tsunami wave up to 30 centimeters high was observed in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska.

A 30-centimeter tsunami wave was observed in northern California, near the Oregon border.

A cautionary advisory is in effect on the west coast of the United States.

The Japan Meteorological Agency said tsunami waves of up to 40 centimeters were detected in 16 locations across the country, as waves moved south along the Pacific coast from Hokkaido to northeast of Tokyo. A tsunami of 1.3 meters hit a port in Japan's northern Iwate prefecture, the agency said. Officials urged caution, saying even higher waves were possible later.

The coastal district of Severokurilsk, the main city of the Kuril Islands, was hit by four tsunami waves, flooding part of the city, Sakhalin Region Governor Valery Limarenko and the city's mayor Alexander Ovsyannikov announced.