Madrid (EFE).- The earthquake that struck Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula on Wednesday with a magnitude of 8.8 and a depth of 20.7 kilometers was the eighth most powerful ever recorded worldwide, seismological agencies said.
According to the Institute of Geosciences (IGEO), a joint center of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and the Complutense University of Madrid, it is the most powerful quake this century after the 2011 Tohoku earthquake in Japan, which registered a magnitude of 9.1.
The IGEO reported that the earthquake triggered a tsunami that has already affected nearby coastlines and several countries, and is expected to impact more areas across the Pacific Ocean in the coming hours.
The institute also released a series of images modeling the tsunami’s projected path in the hours following the quake.
Spain’s National Geographic Institute (IGN) has also been monitoring the situation, providing ongoing updates on the earthquake and its aftershocks.
Seismologist John Townend, professor of Geophysics at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, said the Kamchatka quake is the most powerful recorded globally since the 2011 Tohoku disaster.
Townend explained that the quake occurred in the subduction zone beneath the Kamchatka Peninsula, where the Pacific Plate moves west-northwest at about 75 millimeters per year.
Preliminary data suggests the earthquake involved more than 10 meters of slip across an area approximately 150 by 400 kilometers, he said.
The earthquake was preceded by a 7.4-magnitude tremor on Jul. 20, now identified as a foreshock.
Townend noted that the Kamchatka quake released about 30 times more energy than New Zealand’s 7.8-magnitude Kaikoura earthquake in 2016, and roughly one-third the energy of the Tohoku quake.
According to the US Geological Survey (USGS), the affected region has a relatively sparse population, and significant damage or casualties were not expected.
Caroline Orchiston, an expert at the University of Otago, New Zealand, said tsunami advisories are in effect for the US Pacific Northwest and Alaskan coasts. The highest waves are expected in Crescent City where forecasts predicted waves of up to 1.5 meters.
So far, 10 aftershocks above magnitude 5 have been recorded, the strongest measuring 6.9.
Orchiston warned that ongoing seismic activity could have a lasting psychosocial impact on the local population. EFE
rc/bks/sc