Chile Many aftershocks shake the Russian peninsula of Kamchatka
After the violent 8.8-magnitude quake off the Kamchatka Peninsula in eastern Russia, the earth is still not at rest. On Thursday night (local time), international earthquake monitors registered numerous aftershocks, many with a magnitude of well over 5 and at a shallow depth of only around ten kilometers. Further aftershocks could follow in the coming weeks.
31.07.2025, 01:52
31.07.2025, 07:21
SDA
In the meantime, tsunami warnings were issued for millions of people in the Pacific region. However, the feared catastrophe initially failed to materialize. Nevertheless, even one day after the strong quake, the all-clear was not given everywhere.
Even in the Pacific state of New Zealand, thousands of kilometers away, the authorities continued to call for caution near the coast. Unusual water movements and currents were observed in the wake of the quake, according to the national disaster control authority Nema. And tsunamis are completely different from normal waves, warned Mark Mitchell, the minister responsible for emergency management. "There is a 90 percent chance that someone will die if they are hit by a tsunami wave," he explained.
All-clear from Chile to Japan
In Chile, the authorities evacuated the country's coastal areas. In the town of Hanga Roa on Easter Island in the Pacific, which belongs to Chile, the coastal promenade was closed. However, the all-clear was later given here too - as well as on the island of Hawaii, which is popular with holidaymakers. However, people there should continue to be careful near the coast and in the water, it was said.
Tsunami warnings were also lifted again in the western US states of Alaska, Washington and Oregon. In the Los Angeles area in California, the beaches were accessible again after being temporarily closed. Other Pacific states such as Japan, the Philippines and Indonesia had already given the all-clear. In Japan, the height of the tidal waves barely exceeded one meter.
What is known about the severe quake so far
At 8.8, the main quake was the strongest in the world since the Fukushima disaster in March 2011, according to the US earthquake observatory USGS - and has only been surpassed by five quakes since measurements began. According to the Russian Academy of Sciences, it was also the strongest in the region since 1952. The center of the quake was reportedly located in the open sea, around 130 kilometers off the sparsely populated coast of Kamchatka.
Aftershocks are also dangerous
"There will be aftershocks in the region in the coming weeks and months, but they will most likely not reach the magnitude of the main quake," Heidrun Kopp from the Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research Kiel told the Science Media Center (SMC). Aftershocks are generally dangerous, as they can completely destroy infrastructure that has already been damaged. "In this case, further damage would probably be limited to the Kamchatka Peninsula."
The highest volcano there also erupted a few hours after the main quake. According to scientists, a strong glow could be observed on the cone of the 4,750-metre-high Klyuchevskoy. Lava was running down one flank and explosions could be heard.
"Like the heroine of a disaster movie"
In the regional capital of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, with a population of around 170,000, the quake terrified people. "It seemed as if the house was about to collapse like a house of cards," a Russian woman told the independent news portal "Bereg". "It was the first time in my life that I had experienced such a strong earthquake and I was very scared."
Another woman climbed a hill with her neighbors to get away from the sea because of the feared tsunami. "I felt like the heroine of a disaster movie when people run somewhere with bags or animals in their baskets."
Reminder of the 2004 disaster
In many coastal states, there was great concern after the quake that meter-high tsunami waves could cause severe damage along the coasts of the Pacific - also in memory of the devastating tsunami disaster on 26 December 2004 in the Indian Ocean with around 230,000 deaths from Thailand to Tanzania. At that time, however, there were no early warning systems or effective structures in place to warn the population of the approaching tsunami.
