Massive 8.7 Magnitude Earthquake Strikes Russia, Tsunami Alert Issued
Moscow (The Uttam Hindu): A powerful earthquake shook the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia's Far East region on Wednesday morning. The magnitude of the earthquake was measured 8.7 on the Richter scale, after which a tsunami warning has been issued in the region. Apart from Russia, the impact of this devastating earthquake is expected to affect many other countries including Japan and America, where a tsunami alert has been issued.
Immediately after the earthquake, huge tsunami waves were seen in the Russian coastal areas, whose height reached 13 feet. In view of the danger, the work of evacuating people from coastal areas to safer places has been started immediately.
Seeing the seriousness of the situation, Russian government minister Lebedev has strictly appealed to people to stay away from beaches and water areas. At the same time, the US tsunami warning system has also issued an alert for the next few hours and said that waves up to 10 feet high can rise on the northwestern Hawaiian Islands and Russian coasts.
The effects of this earthquake and tsunami are being felt across a large part of the Pacific Ocean. Waves up to 3 feet high are expected to reach the Philippines, Chuuk, Kosrae, Marshall Islands and Palau. Apart from this, waves more than 1 feet high can hit the coasts of South Korea, North Korea and Taiwan. Japan's Meteorological Department has also issued a warning saying that tsunami waves up to 3.28 feet high can reach the coastal areas by 1 pm local time.
Kamchatka Governor Vladimir Solodov described the earthquake as 'extremely serious and strong' in a video message. However, he also clarified that there have been no reports of any casualties so far. Following the tsunami warning, the process of evacuation of people has been started from the city of Severo-Kurilsk in the Sakhalin region.
According to the US Geological Survey (USGS), the epicenter of the earthquake was located at a depth of 19.3 kilometers, 125 kilometers east-southeast of the coastal city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky in Avacha Bay. USGS initially reported the magnitude of the earthquake to be 8, which was later revised to 8.7. Apart from this main earthquake, other tremors of magnitude 6.3 and 6.9 were also felt in the area, causing panic among the people.