As threat assessments touched off warning sirens across Waikiki, hotels began moving guests mostly to higher floors — a standard protocol known as vertical evacuation.

Although most people promptly evacuated the iconic beach near Honolulu, others didn't heed the warnings of blaring tsunami sirens on Tuesday.

A tsunami warning issued for Hawaii after one of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded, an 8.8 magnitude in Russia's Far East, was canceled after small waves peaked.

Russia’sKamchatka Peninsula was rocked by a powerful 8.8-magnitude earthquake onTuesday, July 29, sparking fears of a destructive tsunami across the Pacific.But the waves that reached Hawaii and the US West Coast were far smaller thanexpected and caused no damage.