Powerful earthquakes in Russia: Tsunami alert issued; three quakes including 7.4 magnitude strike off near Kamchatka

Three powerful earthquakes struck off the coast of Russia’s Far East on Sunday, triggering a tsunami alert, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said, as reported by news agency AFP. The first quake, with a magnitude of 5.0, was followed by a 6.7-magnitude earthquake at 07:07 UTC, located 151 km east of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, at a depth of 8.7 km, according to the USGS.Shortly after, a 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck the region at 06:49 UTC, around 144 km east of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, at a depth of 20 km. Following this stronger quake, the USGS issued a warning that hazardous tsunami waves are possible within 300 kilometres (186 miles) of the epicentre in the Pacific.Earlier, the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) reported a magnitude 6.6 earthquake near the coast of Russia’s Kamchatka region. GFZ stated that the quake occurred at a depth of 10 km and had initially recorded it as a 6.2-magnitude tremor.There were no immediate reports of casualties.The Kamchatka peninsula is the meeting point of the Pacific and North American tectonic plates, making it a seismic hot zone. Since 1900, seven major earthquakes of magnitude 8.3 or higher have struck the area.This is a developing story…