Russia cancels tsunami warning for Kamchatka after quake, dormant volcano erupts

Russia lifted a tsunami warning for the Kamchatka Peninsula on Sunday after a powerful 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck near the Kuril Islands and a volcano erupted for the first time in six centuries.

Russia’s Ministry for Emergency Situations has lifted a tsunami warning for the Kamchatka Peninsula after a magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck near the Kuril Islands on Sunday.

The ministry initially advised people to avoid the shoreline due to potential waves, though it noted that wave heights were expected to be low. The Pacific Tsunami Warning System and the U.S. Geological Survey also measured the quake at magnitude 7.0 but issued no tsunami alerts.

The earthquake came hours after a rare eruption of the Krasheninnikov Volcano in Kamchatka — its first in 600 years — according to Russia’s RIA state news agency and local scientists.

Both the quake and the eruption may be linked to a major earthquake that hit Russia's Far East last week, prompting tsunami warnings as far away as Chile and French Polynesia, and triggering an eruption of Kamchatka’s most active volcano, Klyuchevskoy.

The Kuril Islands extend southward from Kamchatka, and Russian experts have warned of possible strong aftershocks in the region over the coming weeks.

"This marks the first historically confirmed eruption of Krasheninnikov in 600 years," said Olga Girina, head of the Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team, as quoted by RIA. On the Telegram channel of the Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, Girina noted that the last known lava flow occurred within 40 years of 1463.

Following the eruption, a plume of ash reaching up to 6,000 metres (3.7 miles) was recorded, according to the local emergency ministry. The 1,856-metre-high volcano's ash cloud has moved eastward over the Pacific Ocean, with no inhabited areas along its path.

The eruption has been given an orange aviation warning, indicating increased risk to aircraft.

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