7 magnitude earthquake hits off Russia’s Kamchatka, tsunami warning issued

WASHINGTON: A magnitude 7 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 7am 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.