Tsunami alerts have been issued for Hawaii, California and Alaska following a massive magnitude 8.8 earthquake off the coast of Russia on Tuesday. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The strongest earthquake of the year struck off Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula, triggering tsunami warnings along the U.S. West Coast, Hawaii, Japan and across the Pacific.

British Columbia’s emergency preparedness agency says a tsunami is expected to hit parts of Vancouver Island late Tuesday, but with waves of less than 30 centimetres, after one of the world’s strongest earthquakes struck off the southwestern Russian coast.