International tsunami alert issued as Russia hit by 7.8 magnitude earthquake

A massive earthquake has rocked eastern Russia with a tsunami warning issued for the region.

The quake has measured in at a whopping 7.8 on the Richter Scale, providing significant force and struck Russia's city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy, near the Kamchatka peninsula. The quake was at a depth of 10 km (6.21 miles), the US Geological Survey said. The region is also strategically important for Russia, as it hosts Russian Pacific Submarine Fleet and numerous airbases.

There is the Yelizovo Air Base, which is located in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky itself and adding to this, Vilyuchinsk Submarine Base, a significant Pacific Fleet base is about 20-30 km away in Vilyuchinsk, as well as the the Sharomy Air Base, a naval air base situated about 143 km north of the city.

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It is not known if the submarines or airplanes were evacuated in time and there is little information so far about the overall damage caused by the earthquake.

The governor of Kamchatka, Vladimir Solodov, stated that all emergency services have been put on high alert with a tsunami warning issued by Russian authorities.

The US National Weather Service's Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre in Hawaii announced a tsunami advisory following the quake. Other countries have been warned to prepare for a potential tsunami – including Japan. The impact is expected to travel across the Pacific, with people in Hawaii warned to be ready.

Kamchatsky has a population of 181k people and sits on the Kuril-Kamchatka Arc, which extends 2,100 km from Hokkaido, Japan along the Kuril Islands and the Pacific coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula.

The Kuril-Kamchatka Arc is one of the most seismically active regions in the world. The largest megathrust earthquake to occur along the arc in the 20th century was the November 4, 1952 measuring 9.0 magnitude.

This latest earthquake is the second in less than a week, with according to the US Geological Survey, it struck Russia's Kamchatka peninsula in the early hours of Saturday, September 13. The quake also came weeks after a massive 8.8 magnitude earthquake, the sixth strongest ever recorded, hit the region. The USGS reported that the quake’s epicentre was 111.7 km (69.3 miles) east of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and at a depth of about 39 km (24 miles).

However on that occasion, no tsunami warning was issued. That earthquake was an "aftershock" to the massive magnitude 8.8 quake that started off the coast of Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula back in July.

Originating at a depth of roughly 20 kilometres, the powerful quake was among the 10 strongest in recorded history and the largest worldwide since 2011. The massive event triggered Tsunami warnings and evacuations in Russia, Japan and Hawaii, with advisories issued for the Philippines, Indonesia, and as far away as New Zealand and Peru.

Last week's 7.4 magnitude earthquake appears to have been less disruptive. However, it is known that tonight's (September 18) was stronger.