Powerful earthquake detected in Kamchatka, alert for tsunami issued
In a significant geological event, an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.2 was recorded off the coast of Kamchatka on September 18, 2025, at 18:58:17 (23:58 AST), according to reports from the US Geological Survey and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in the US, as well as a branch of the Federal Research Center "United Geophysical Service of the Russian Academy of Sciences".
The epicenter of the earthquake was located 145 kilometers east of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, and it was 123 km deep. The coordinates of the earthquake are 53.38, 159.92°.
Preliminary parameters of the earthquake suggest that dangerous tsunami waves are possible for coastal areas within 1000 kilometers of the epicenter. This has led to a tsunami warning being issued by the Kamchatka Hydrometeorological Center.
Kamchatka Governor Vladimir Solodov has reported a tsunami threat along the eastern coast of the peninsula, and all services in Kamchatka have been put on high alert.
Following the earthquake, the Klyuchevskaya Sopka volcano erupted, and the Krasnoshchekov volcano, which last erupted almost 500 years ago, has also shown signs of activity.
The July 30 earthquake on Kamchatka, with a magnitude of 8.8, ranks sixth on the list of most powerful earthquakes since the beginning of instrumental observations. It shares this ranking with earthquakes in Chile (2010) and in the area of Ecuador and Colombia (1906).
Four tsunami waves have been reported to have passed through the Sakhalin region, and countries such as Japan, Hawaii, Chile, Ecuador, Peru, Mexico, and China have had a tsunami threat declared.
The earthquake was reported by RIA Novosti, and the event is currently being closely monitored by geological and meteorological services worldwide.
