Russia 8.2 Quake Felt 4,400 Miles Away; Moscow Buildings Evacuated

The Russia earthquake that hit the eastern coast was felt as far away as 4,400 miles from the epicenter. There were no casualties or damage reported, but it prompted many buildings in Moscow to be evacuated.

The U.S. Geological Survey reported that the Russian earthquake had a magnitude of 8.3 on the Richter scale. It shook the earth at its epicenter on the Kuril-Kamchatka arc in the Sea of Okhotsk, which lies east of Russia’s coast and north of Japan.

The Kuril-Kamchatka arc is one of the most seismically active regions in the world.
Nine hours after the first quake hit, the Russian Academy of Sciences measured an aftershock that hit at 7.0 on the Richter scale. The U.S. Geological Survey measured the aftershock at a magnitude of 6.8.

The Emergency Situations Ministry said that there were no casualties or damages from the quake. Far East emergency agencies put out a tsunami warning for Sakhalin and the Kuril islands, which has since been lifted. An Emergency Situations Ministry spokesperson said the earthquake originated 375 miles under the sea bed. Tremors that are so far down below the surface have the potential to spread quite far.

Tremors were felt in more than a dozen regions spanning Russia. Moscow law enforcement officers evacuated 850 people from two apartment buildings after residents reported that the buildings were shaking. Tremors are extremely rare in Moscow. The last recorded tremor in the Russian city was in the 1977.

News reports say that residents of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky on the Kamchatka peninsula in the Okhotsk Sea felt the first quake for about five minutes. Residents of the city evacuated buildings. The city evacuated area schools.

Russian news agencies also reported strong tremors across Siberia.