A volcano near a large naval base on Russia’s east coast erupted early Sunday after a strong magnitude -7.0 earthquake struck the Pacific Ocean about 63 miles away, according to Russian state media.
The volcano Shiveluch spewed a column of ash as high as 5 miles above sea level and released a stream of lava, PAW reported Sunday morning, citing researchers at the Institute of Volcanology and Seismology of the Far Eastern branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
The volcano is about 450 miles from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, a coastal city of more than 181,000 people in Russia’s eastern Kamchatka region. The city is surrounded by volcanoes and is across a bay from an important Russian submarine base.
The US Geological Survey said the quake struck 18 miles below the surface of the Pacific Ocean. Its epicenter was about 63 miles east of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. There were no early reports of damage or casualties from the earthquake.
VS FEB RAS via AP
The quake led to a tsunami warning that was later lifted.
The US National Weather Service’s Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Honolulu initially warned that dangerous tsunami waves were possible for coasts within 300 miles (480 kilometers) of the earthquake’s epicenter, but later announced that the threat had ended.
The center said minor sea level fluctuations could occur in some coastal areas near the earthquake site for several hours.