Tsunami alerts were also in effect in Alaska, the U.S. West Coast and down the Pacific Rim to New Zealand. The earthquake, centered about 78 miles southeast of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, ranks among the "top six strongest" ever recorded,

An 8.8-magnitude earthquake off Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula shook the Pacific, but its tsunami fizzled. A geologist explains why.

The magnitude 8.8 quake is believed to be the joint sixth-largest on record, though only minor injuries near the epicenter have been reported.