A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck off the coast of Russia’s far-eastern Kamchatka Peninsula on Sunday morning local time, according to the regional earthquake monitoring service.
The local emergency ministry said the tremor was felt along the coast, including in the region’s capital Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.
“Teams of rescuers and firefighters are inspecting buildings,” the regional branch of Russia’s Emergencies Ministry in the Kamchatka region said over Telegram.
According to the United States Geological Survey, the quake struck just after 7 a.m. local time, about 90 kilometers east of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky at a depth of about 50 kilometers (30 miles).
The US National Tsunami Warning Center initially issued a tsunami warning, but later said the threat had passed. Local authorities never issued a tsunami warning.
The Kamchatka branch of Russia’s Integrated Geophysical Service said on its website that several aftershocks were felt after the initial quake, but they were of low intensity.
The peninsula lies on a seismically active zone encircling much of the Pacific Ocean known as the “Ring of Fire”, and is home to more than two dozen active volcanoes.