When a magnitude 8.8 earthquake rocked Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula on Tuesday, officials warned that damaging tsunami waves could follow. Instead, the waves that reached Hawaii and the U.S. West Coast proved smaller than initially feared.

The Russian earthquake, which hit off of the coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula, was one of the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded.

The sixth-strongest earthquake ever recorded has triggered waves several feet high hurtling towards coastal areas worldwide.Countries in and around the Pacific Ocean have been placed on varying degrees of alerts for anticipated tsunamis.