MOSCOW, July 30 — A state of emergency has been declared in the Russian city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy after a powerful earthquake, with all services now on high alert, Mayor Yevgeny Belyaev said on Wednesday, reported Sputnik/RIA Novosti.
"A state of emergency is in effect in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy due to the earthquake that occurred today," he wrote on Telegram, adding that all services have been put on high alert.
In Vladivostok, it was reported that tsunami waves that struck the city of Severo-Kurilsk in Russia’s Sakhalin Region were over three metres (9.8 feet) high, with the most powerful waves visually reaching up to five metres, the regional emergency services told RIA Novosti on Wednesday.
Earlier in the day, a magnitude 8.8 earthquake struck off the coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula, marking the strongest in the region since 1952. The Sakhalin Region government said that a state of emergency had been declared in the Severo-Kurilsky District following the earthquake and tsunami.
"The tsunami wave height in Severo-Kurilsk exceeded three meters, and the strongest one was visually estimated at up to five meters," it said.
As there is no automated monitoring station in Severo-Kurilsk, wave heights are assessed visually.
Meanwhile, regional Governor Vladimir Solodov said a damage assessment revealed no fatalities or serious injuries in the Kamchatka Territory.
"According to the inspection results, there were no serious injuries or fatalities. The only structural damage was the collapse of a wall at Kindergarten No. 15 in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy.
"The building was under renovation, no children were there, and staff were safely evacuated," he told broadcaster Rossiya 24.
Tremors from the quake were felt in 47 settlements across Kamchatka and Sakhalin.
The Institute of Earthquake Prediction Theory and Mathematical Geophysics of the Russian Academy of Sciences' head Petr Shebalin noted that the earthquake in Russia's Kamchatka is comparable in strength to the one that caused an accident at Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant (NPP) in 2011.
"This is a very strong earthquake. There has not been an earthquake of this strength in Kamchatka since 1952, and in general, the last time an earthquake of this strength in the region was in Japan in 2011, then it was magnitude nine, now it is a little less — 8.8," he said.
— Bernama
