According to a report from the United States Geological Survey (USGS), a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Russian Far East on Friday morning local time.
The earthquake occurred east of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, 128 kilometers away, with the epicenter preliminarily located at 53.17 degrees north latitude and 160.53 degrees east longitude at a depth of 10 kilometers (6.21 miles), classified as a shallow-depth earthquake.
Vladimir Solodov, the governor of the Kamchatka region, stated that all emergency services are on high alert, and there have been no reports of casualties so far. The strong quake triggered a local tsunami warning.
Following the earthquake, a tsunami advisory was issued for the Amchitka Pass in Alaska.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued a tsunami threat warning for Hawaii, cautioning that local waves could reach heights of 1 to 3.3 feet (0.3 to 1 meter).
USGS mentioned that this earthquake was an aftershock of the 8.8 magnitude earthquake that occurred on the Kamchatka Peninsula on July 30.
The earthquake on July 30 took place 126 kilometers southeast of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, with a depth of approximately 19 kilometers.
According to information provided by USGS, up to this point, the magnitude 7.8 earthquake on September 19 is the largest aftershock following the July 30 main earthquake, surpassing the 7.4 aftershock that occurred in the vicinity on September 13. On August 17, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake also occurred approximately 50 miles from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.
The strong earthquake on July 30 triggered tsunami waves up to 4 meters high along the coast of Kamchatka at that time, with wave heights of 60 centimeters observed in Hokkaido, Japan, and 30 centimeters in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska. This led to the issuance of tsunami warnings for Hawaii, the U.S. West Coast, Guam, and various Pacific islands. Over 200 aftershocks were recorded within 24 hours after the earthquake.