MOSCOW: Russian authorities have lifted a tsunami warning issued following the powerful earthquake that struck off the country’s far-eastern coast earlier on Wednesday, German Press Agency (dpa) reported.
No significant flood waves have been recorded in the Kamchatka Peninsula, which is located some 130 kilometres from the quake’s epicentre, the Civil Defence Ministry said on Telegram.
Most buildings in the peninsula withstood the quake, the authority said, adding that investigations into structures were ongoing.
A beach was evacuated due to the tsunami risk, with emergency responders taking some 60 people to safety, it said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peslov said no casualties have been reported so far, with alert systems working as they should.
The massive quake has triggered tsunami warnings for millions of people across the Pacific, including in Japan, the United States and Mexico.
But hours after the quake rocked Russia’s Far East, there were no reports of major damage on Wednesday. In many regions, tsunami warnings were lifted or downgraded.
The main quake, which hit at about 11.24am on Wednesday (2324 GMT Tuesday), was recorded by the US Geological Survey (USGS) at magnitude 8.8 – the strongest globally since Japan’s Fukushima disaster in March 2011, and one of the six most powerful earthquakes ever measured. Russian authorities reported a magnitude of 8.7.
According to the Russian Academy of Sciences, it was the strongest earthquake to hit Kamchatka since 1952. The epicentre was in the open sea, about 130 kilometres from the sparsely populated coastline.
A number of aftershocks have since been recorded in the region, according to the USGS. – Bernama-dpa
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