Earthquake of 7.4 magnitude strikes off Russia's Kamchatka region

A magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck near the coast of the Kamchatka region in the far east of Russia on Sunday, earthquake monitoring agencies said, with Russian emergency services watching for possible tsunami waves in the region.

The earthquake struck off the east coast of Kamchatka at a depth of 10 km, shortly after a previous quake, according to the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) data.

The European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) showed the earthquake to be of 7.4 magnitude. GFZ also updated the quake to a 7.4 magnitude after first reporting it at 6.7 magnitude.

Russia’s state-run TASS news agency reported on Sunday, citing local emergency services, that waves of up to 60 cm could reach the sparsely populated Aleutsky District on the Commander Islands.

Waves of up to 40 cm may affect the Ust-Kamchatsky region in eastern Kamchatka, while the Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky urban district – the most densely populated area in the south-eastern part of the peninsula and home to the regional capital – might see waves of up to 15 cm.

The U.S. National Tsunami Warning Center cancelled a tsunami watch for the state of Hawaii.