Tsunami threat declared in Russia's Kamchatka after powerful 7.4 magnitude earthquake

After powerful earth tremors in the Pacific Ocean, residents of several settlements in Kamchatka have been advised to climb to elevations 30-40 metres high or move at least 2-3 kilometres away from the coast because of the tsunami threat.

Three powerful earthquakes, the strongest one with a magnitude of 7.4 have been registered on Sunday in the waters of the Pacific Ocean near the Russian far-east peninsula of Kamchatka. Its epicentre, according to the Kamchatka branch of the Unified Geophysical Survey of the Russian Academy of Sciences, was 115 km from the regional capital Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.According to Russian media, the tremors were felt for roughly a minute, causing to people to run out of buildings. The press service of the Main Department of the Ministry of Emergency Situations in the region said that specialists will begin examination of the buildings as soon as possible.About half an hour earlier, in approximately the same area, two earthquakes of magnitudes 5.3 and 6.5 occured.Local services have gone into high alert mode. No information on possible damage or casualties has been reported at this stage.On 4 November 1952, a magnitude 9.0 quake in Kamchatka caused damage but no reported deaths despite setting off 9.1-meter (30-foot) waves in Hawaii.This is a developing story and our journalists are working to bring you the latest updates