Russian Seismologists Register Magnitude 6.5 Quake Off Far Eastern Kamchatka Peninsula

PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th November, 2018) KAMCHATSKY, November 15 (Sputnik) - A large 6.5-magnitude earthquake has been registered off the eastern coast of Russia's Far Eastern Kamchatka Peninsula, the regional branch of the Geophysical Survey of the Russian academy of Sciences (GS RAS) told Sputnik on Thursday.

"The seismic event occurred in the early hours of Thursday local time. The epicenter of the quake was registered in the Kamchatskiy Zaliv at the depth of 76.2 kilometers [47.3 miles], 78 kilometers to the south of the settlement of Ust-Kamchatsk, located 370 kilometers to the northeast of the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky," the GS RAS spokesman said.

The seismologists say the earthquake was felt in several settlements of the Kamchatka Territory.

In Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, which is the administrative center of the region, magnitude 2 tremors could be felt, while the residents of Ust-Kamchatsk could feel the tremors of up to 5 points on the Richter magnitude scale.

According to the preliminary information of the regional branch of the Russian Emergencies Ministry, the quake has not resulted in any casualties or damage to infrastructure. The authorities have not issued a tsunami warning.

However, specialists have been dispatched to inspect buildings in Ust-Kamchatsk where the quake was felt the most.