MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Kamchatka branch of the Geophysical Service of Russian Academy of Sciences reported that 7.3-magnitude earthquake has occurred in Russia’s Kamchatka Territory.
Earlier, the US Geological Survey (USGS) reported the earthquake to be 7.0-magnitude strong.
Prelim M7.0 earthquake Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia Jan-30 03:25 UTC, updates https://t.co/3Pm2o8QF4p, 0 #quake tweets/min
— USGSted (@USGSted) January 30, 2016
The quake struck at 03:25 GMT on Saturday. Its epicenter was located about 106 kilometers (66 miles) north of the port of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, at a depth of 159 kilometers (99 miles), USGS said.
A representative of the Far Eastern regional center of the Emergencies Ministry told RIA Novosti that the earthquake was felt in several local towns.
"The earthquake occurred at 15:25 local time [03:25 GMT], magnitude 7, 87 kilometers [54 miles] east of Petropavlovsk, on land…at a depth of 189 kilometers [117 miles]; in the towns of Yelizovo and Vilyuchinsk it was felt as a magnitude 5 quake," the spokesperson said.
There is no risk of a tsunami following the earthquake and, according to preliminary information, there are no casualties or damage, the spokesperson added.
According to USGS, the magnitude 7.0 quake occurred 95 kilometers (59 miles) north of Yelizovo.
Earlier, USGS reported that at 00:16 GMT, a 5.3-magnitude quake occurred off Russia’s Kuril Islands, south of the Kamchatka peninsula.
According to the Richter scale, earthquakes with a magnitude of 7.0- 7.9 are considered major and can cause severe damage. Quakes with a magnitude of 5.0-5.9 are considered to be moderate.
