By Burc Eruygur
ISTANBUL (AA) - A magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck off the eastern coast of Russia’s Kamchatka region, situated in the country’s Far East.
The regional branch of the Unified Geophysical Service of the Russian Academy of Sciences said on Telegram that the quake in the Pacific had a depth of 5 kilometers (3.1 miles).
It said the epicenter of the earthquake was 161 kilometers (100 miles) from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, the region’s administrative center.
The earthquake followed two earlier tremors of magnitude 5.5 and 6.7, respectively.
A tsunami threat was declared in the region’s Aleutsky, Ust-Kamchatsky, and Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky districts, according to the Emergency Situations Ministry.
The ministry recommended residents of coastal settlements to move away to areas where elevation is 30-40 meters above sea level.