Description: The Russian region of Kamchatka was hit by a massive 8.8 magnitude earthquake which caused regional disaster centers to issue widespread tsunami alerts across coastal US, Japan, Russia and New Zealand. Russian authorities reported that waves of up 4.4 meters caused minimal damage to the shore areas of the peninsula, while other disaster centers such as the Hawaii – based Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre, after issuing regional tsunami alerts reported that the risk towards critical infrastructure and civilian life has been significantly reduced, however, evacuation orders remained in place. In Russia, the Klyuchevskoy volcano erupted pouring volcanic residue on the western side of the mountain which prompted the authorities to initiate evacuations and closely monitor the situation in the largest active volcanic site in the northern hemisphere. The joint evacuation mechanisms between Russian, US and Japanese authorities and close cooperation with the UN’s Office for Disaster Risk Reduction enabled thousands of civilians to safely evacuate the affected areas with the latest reports indicating much of the evacuated people started returning home.
Impact: The earthquake and tsunami disaster preventions mechanisms demonstrate the importance of organizations such as the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre (PTWC) and highlights the UN’s role in cohesively coordinating disaster prevention institutions on an international level. Government organizations such as the PTWC are under threat of budget cuts in line with the current US domestic policies of cutting budgets of institutions in order to decrease government spending. The PTWC in cooperation with the UN and local organizations within Russia and Japan managed to efficiently evacuate thousands of people without sustaining any casualties which further emphasizes PTWC’s role in disaster prevention. The chain reaction between the earthquake, the tsunami and the subsequent volcanic eruption also raises concerns regarding the ineffectiveness of environmental and climate protection initiatives which is a subject that has been largely discussed and disputed within international organizations, due to the overwhelming dependence of countries on energy sources which endanger environmental stability, such as fossil fuels.