KAMCHATKA (REUTERS, AFP) - A powerful quake of magnitude 7.8 struck in the northern Pacific Ocean between the tip of Alaska's Aleutian Islands and Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula, the US Geological Survey said on Monday. The quake struck at 1:34 a.m. on Tuesday (at 2334 GMT on Monday) some 125 miles (200 km) from the city of Nikol'skoye on Bering island off the Kamchatka Peninsula. ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A strong earthquake on the Russian side of the Bering Sea briefly prompted a tsunami advisory for parts of the Pacific, including Alaska’s remote Aleutian Islands and Russia. The earthquake was very shallow, only 6 miles (10 km) below the seabed, which would have amplified its effect, but it was far from any mainland and there were no immediate reports of any casualties or damage. The U.S. Pacific Tsunami Warning Center had warned earlier that “hazardous tsunami waves were possible for coasts within 300 km (186 miles) of the earthquake epicenter.” But it later said that based on all available data the tsunami threat from this earthquake had passed. The quake was initially reported as a magnitude 7.7 before being revised down to 7.4 and finally upgraded to 7.8, a major quake normally capable of causing widespread and heavy damage when striking on or near land. The quake was followed by several aftershocks, a couple of them being above 5.0 magnitude.
A 7.7 magnitude earthquake strikes off Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula, west of the Alaskan Aleutian Island of Attu, in the North Pacific Ocean. No immediate reports of casualties or damage; a tsunami warning was cancelled.