Residents fled inland as ports flooded on Kamchatka, while frothy, white waves washed up on the shore in northern Japan. Cars jammed streets and motorways in Honolulu, with standstill traffic even in areas away from the sea.

A volcano in Russia’s Far East erupted hours after a major earthquake triggered tsunami warnings as far away as California and Chile. A handful of regions around the world regularly unleash terrifyingly large earthquakes.