Strong Earthquake in the North Pacific

A massive earthquake of magnitude 7.8 shaked the North Pacific, between the Aleutian islands of Alaska and the Russian peninsula of Kamchatka, the Geophysical Institute of the United States said, quoted by world agencies.

The quake was recorded at 11:34am local time on Tuesday , 200km from Nicolskoe, on the island of Berring, near the Kamchatka Peninsula. The epicenter was west of Atu, the westernmost and largest of the Aleutian Alaska islands. The quake was shallow, 10 km below the seabed, which would intensify its impact, but it was far from the continents. The Pacific Ocean Tsunami Warning Center reported that tsunami waves could occur off the shores 300 km from the epicenter of the earthquake but are unlikely to reach the eastern coast of Kamchatka. Such a strong earthquake can cause major damage if it hit the land. The first quake was followed by several secondary ones, some with magnitude 5.

TASS reported that a tsunami threat was announced in the village of Nicolskoe on the island of Barring as well as in the northern Kuril Islands, but the waves would be no more than half a meter.