Magnitude 7.0 earthquake strikes off Russian far-east

A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck off the coast of Russia’s far-eastern Kamchatka Peninsula early Sunday morning local time, according to the regional earthquake monitoring service.

The local emergencies ministry said tremors were felt along the coast including in the region’s capital Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.

“Operational teams of rescuers and firefighters are inspecting buildings,” the regional branch of Russia’s emergencies ministry in the Kamchatka region said on Telegram.

The earthquake struck at a depth of nearly 50 kilometres (30 miles) just after 7:00 am local time, some 90 kilometres east of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, the United States Geological Survey reported.

The US National Tsunami Warning Center had initially issued a tsunami threat, but later said the threat had passed. Local authorities never issued a tsunami alert.

Several aftershocks were recorded after the initial quake, but of lower intensity, the Kamchatka branch of Russia’s Unified Geophysical Service reported on its website.

The peninsula lies on a seismically active belt surrounding most of the Pacific Ocean known as the “Ring of Fire”, and is home to more than two dozen active volcanoes. (BSS/AFP)