MOSCOW: A magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck off the east coast of Russia’s Kamchatka region at a depth of 51 km, the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre said on Saturday.

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

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.

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.

Published in Dawn, August 18th, 2024