A powerful new magnitude 7.8 earthquake has struck off the coast of Kamchatka, near the Russian city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.
The U.S. Geological Survey notes that this is the largest aftershock after the magnitude 8.8 earthquake on the Kamchatka Peninsula, which occurred on 30 July 2025.
Before that, a magnitude 7.4 aftershock was recorded on 13 September.
“At the site of the earthquake, the Pacific plate is moving from west to north-west relative to the North American plate at a rate of about 80 mm/year,” the service said in a statement.
According to its data, the epicentre of the new earthquake was at a depth of about 10 kilometres from the earth’s surface. The service warns of the possibility of a tsunami.
On the night of 30 July, an earthquake with a magnitude of 8.8 occurred off the coast of Kamchatka – the most powerful in the world since the beginning of 2025. It was included in the list of six “strongest in the XXI century” and became the strongest in the region after the earthquake in 1952.
Back then, a tsunami up to four metres high hit the coast and woke up local volcanoes.
Kamchatka and the Russian Far East are located on the Pacific Ring of Fire, a geologically active region prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.