TSUNAMI ALERT LIFTED AFTER 7.4 MAGNITUDE QUAKES STRIKE RUSSIA’S PACIFIC COAST

The magnitude 7.4 earthquake was at a depth of 20km (12 miles). There were no immediate reports of casualties.

The PTWC initially said there was a danger of major tsunami waves but later downgraded its warning before finally saying the danger had passed.

Russia’s Emergencies Ministry also issued a tsunami warning following the second quake, urging residents of coastal settlements to stay away from the shore.

A separate tsunami watch issued for the state of Hawaii was later lifted.

Germany’s GFZ monitor also confirmed that at least one magnitude 6.7 earthquake was recorded off the east of Kamchatka region on Sunday. GFZ later updated it to magnitude 7.4.

Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky is located in the Kamchatka region, facing the Pacific, northeast of Japan and west of the US state of Alaska, across the Bering Sea.

The Kamchatka Peninsula is the meeting point of the Pacific and North American tectonic plates, making it a seismic hot zone. Since 1900, seven major earthquakes of magnitude 8.3 or higher have struck the area.

On November 4, 1952, a magnitude 9 earthquake in Kamchatka caused damage, but no deaths were reported despite setting off 9.1-metre (30-foot) waves in Hawaii.