Powerful Earthquake Strikes Pacific Ocean off Russian Kamchatka Peninsula
A magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck the Pacific Ocean off the Russian Kamchatka Peninsula on Saturday, triggering a brief tsunami alert that was quickly lifted, according to American specialized services.
The earthquake occurred at 02:37 GMT, at a depth of 39.5 km and 111 km east of the port of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, based on revised data from the United States Geological Survey (USGS).
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) had initially warned of a potential tsunami with waves reaching up to one meter in height on the Russian coast, before canceling its alert a few hours later.
In July last year, the same region was hit by a magnitude 8.8 earthquake, followed by a tsunami, one of the most powerful ever recorded in the world, which led to the evacuation of millions of people across the Pacific, from Japan to Ecuador, passing through the United States and Mexico.
Located at the junction of the Pacific and North American tectonic plates, the Kamchatka Peninsula is one of the most seismically active zones on the planet.
