Biggest earthquake since 50s in Kamchatka: Damage and fallout of record-breaking tremor

Key questions:

• What is known about the strength of the earthquake in Kamchatka?

• Why has this earthquake been called the most powerful in the region in more than 70 years?

• Are there casualties, and what consequences of the disaster are already known?

• Which cities in the Russian Federation suffered the most after the Kamchatka earthquake?

• Which other countries face a tsunami threat?

What is known about the earthquake in the Russian Federation and its magnitude

The Kamchatka branch of the Geophysical Service of the Russian Academy of Sciences called the earthquake the strongest in the region since 1952, when at least 2,000 people died in the Kurils and Kamchatka.

Meanwhile, the US Geological Survey estimates it at 8.8 magnitude. According to them, it occurred approximately 136 kilometers from Kamchatka's eastern coast at a depth of 19.3 kilometers.

Russian services estimate the magnitude at 8.7. Powerful tremors caused destruction and a tsunami. Following the main quake, 30 additional noticeable tremors occurred, with intensities ranging from 2 to 5.

Moreover, aftershocks of up to 7.5 magnitude are expected for up to a month.

It is also known that the earthquake affected not only Kamchatka, but also Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. The latter are an occupied part of Japan by the Russian Federation.

After the earthquake – tsunami waves. What are the consequences?

According to the Russian publication Meduza, a tsunami threat was declared after the Kamchatka earthquake. A dangerous strong tsunami was observed on Kamchatka's coast and in Severo-Kurilsk, Sakhalin region.

In the Elizovo district of Kamchatka, near the Vodopadnaya weather station, a tsunami 3–4 meters high was recorded. In Severo-Kurilsk, the tsunami flooded a port and a fishing enterprise.

Three tsunami waves hit the coast near Severo-Kurilsk after the earthquake. The third and most destructive wave flooded the coastal areas of the city, submerging not only the fishing enterprise but also ports and factories. Authorities evacuated 300 people from the disaster zone. A state of emergency was declared.

In Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, the tremor intensity reached at least 7. A wall in a kindergarten building collapsed.

A port was partially flooded in the settlement. The airport temporarily suspended operations.

Photo: A collapsed wall of a kindergarten after an earthquake in Kamchatka (Russian media)

After the Kamchatka earthquake, the internet was unavailable, but according to Russian media, communication hubs were later restored.

Kamchatka Regional Health Minister Oleg Melnik stated that there were "no casualties so far" as a result of the earthquake. However, there are injured.

"There are people who were injured while fleeing. One patient jumped out of a window. A woman in the new airport building was also injured," he told Russian propagandist media.

According to him, a children's clinic building was also seriously damaged.

Meanwhile, Severo-Kurilsk mayor Alexander reported damage to the city's seaport. Overall, destruction and “partially disrupted power supply” were recorded in the city, located 360 km from the earthquake's epicenter.

Photo: flooded port in Severo-Kurilsk, Russia (x.com/Osinttechnical)

Eyewitnesses online publish videos showing locals in panic trying to flee the disaster-struck region. Russian social media reports a massive traffic jam on the way out of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.

Threat declared for the US, Japan, and beyond

The powerful earthquake in Russia's Far East triggered tsunami warnings across the Pacific Ocean. Alerts were declared in various countries – Japan, Hawaii, and Alaska in the US, Mexico, and Chile.

In particular, tsunami waves have already reached the coast of the US state of Hawaii, according to the US weather service. People are fleeing coastal areas, heading inland. An evacuation was declared. Honolulu residents were asked to leave part of the city or move to the fourth floor or higher in buildings.

Tsunami waves also reached Japan's coastline, where several whales were washed ashore. Tsunami is expected in at least 8 prefectures, including central and northeastern regions.

According to local media Kyodo, part of the railway service was suspended in the country’s east. In eastern and northern Japan, waves of up to 50 centimeters were already recorded.

At the Fukushima-1 nuclear complex, which has been in decommissioning since the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, workers were ordered to evacuate.

Reference

Kamchatka is a large peninsula in Russia’s Far East, washed by the Pacific Ocean and the Bering and Okhotsk seas.

Kamchatka's area is over 270,000 square kilometers, nearly equal to the size of the entire United Kingdom. The population is about 300,000 people, concentrated mainly in the cities of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and Elizovo.

Kamchatka is known as a seismically active zone. The peninsula lies on the boundary of the Pacific tectonic plate, so earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are frequent.

For Russia, Kamchatka is an important naval area, hosting a fleet and a submarine base.

Due to its geographical proximity to Japan, Alaska, and the northern Pacific Ocean, Kamchatka holds strategic significance.

According to CNN, this is the sixth most powerful earthquake in recorded history and the strongest since 2011, when a 9.0 quake in northeastern Japan caused a devastating tsunami and the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

Earlier, an expert from the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine told RBC-Ukraine whether a catastrophic earthquake threatens Moscow.

We also wrote about how earthquakes occurred in Russia’s Tver region after a strike on an ammunition warehouse.

Sources: the Kamchatka branch of the Geophysical Service of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the US Geological Survey, and publications Meduza, TASS, RIA Novosti, etc.