A map shows where the warning and other alerts for tsunami are in the Pacific (Picture: Metro)

A map shows the epicentre of one of the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded, along with large parts of the Pacific Ocean now under tsunami warnings.

Waves up to four metres high were observed reaching as far as the World War II monument about 400 metres from the shoreline – and this is not the worst of it.

Parts of the Severo-Kurilsk town were later submerged by 13-foot waves. A A state of emergency has been declared on the Russian Kuril Islands.

Warnings or alerts about tsunami waves have been issued in more than a dozen countries and territories this morning – Russia, Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, China, Hawaii, Guam, Tonga, California, Alaska, Oregon, Peru, Washington, British Columbia, Mexico, and Ecuador.

The situation remains highly volatile – with seismic activity still ongoing and aftershocks rattling the region.

Forecasts about tsunamis and risk zones and evacuation orders are still being updated by the houras new data emerges.

A powerful wave washes past a building located near the shore, after a powerful earthquake struck off the Kamchatka Peninsula, in Severo-Kurilsk, Sakhalin Region, Russia (Picture: Russia)

Fear is spreading quickly in coastal towns where memories of disasters in the recent past are fresh and residents are unsure whether to stay put and seek higher ground – but risk being swept away – or flee but get trapped in a traffic gridlock, like in Hawaii.

Since the earthquake first hit, videos have been circulating on social media of waves reaching different parts of the Pacific.

California is one of the regions that was hit. The local branch of the US National Weather Service saying tide gauges off the state’s northern coast recorded the waves.

NWS Eureka warned people to stay away from beaches as waves would ‘continue to build through the night’ as high tide approached.

A ‘rapid and damaging surge’ in water levels has hit California in the last hour.

The Los Angeles branch of the National Weather Service said its Port San Luis gauge, just north of LA, had seen a surge of water ‘in just a few minutes’ that took water levels from low tide to high tide.

It added: ‘Do not return to inundated areas as waters will recede, but could return multiple times through the next 24 hours, and the first wave may not be the largest.’

The US Tsunami Warning System also warned that ‘widespread hazardous tsunami waves’ are possible within next three hours along some coasts of Russia and Japan.

In Japan, drastic measures are being taken and the Fukushima nuclear plant has been evacuated ‘to ensure absolute safety’.

The Tokyo Electric Power Company said: ‘We have confirmed that all personnel at Fukushima Daiichi and Fukushima Daini Nuclear Power Stations have evacuated to higher ground, and no injuries have been reported at this time.

‘We have also confirmed that there are no abnormalities in plant parameters or equipment at both plants.

‘We will continue to closely monitor tsunami information and any impacts to the plants.’

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