The eruption caused a ‘red alert’ to be issued for aircraft.
One of Russia’s most active volcanoes has erupted, spewing ash 5km (3 miles) into the sky over the eastern Kamchatka Peninsula and briefly triggering a ‘code red’ alert for aircraft.
The Shiveluch volcano began to tremble shortly after a powerful magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck off the eastern coast of Kamchatka early Sunday morning, according to volcanologists from the Russian Academy of Sciences. They warned that another, much stronger, quake could be coming.
The Academy’s Institute of Volcanology and Seismology released a video showing the ash cloud over Sivelucci, which stretched more than 490 kilometers (304 miles) east and southeast of the volcano.
The institute said the Ebeko volcano, located in the Kuril Islands, also spewed ash 2.5 kilometers (1.5 miles) into the air. It did not say whether an earthquake triggered the eruption.
The Kamchatka Volcano Eruption Response Team reported that all aircraft in the area were briefly put on alert due to a “code red” ash cloud warning. No commercial flights were interrupted and there was no damage to aviation infrastructure, according to a separate report by the official TASS news agency on Sunday.
A magnitude 9.0 earthquake is likely to strike Kamchatka within 24 hours
Russian scientists have warned that the tremors in the area could be a precursor to a more powerful earthquake in southeastern Kamchatka. The Institute of Volcanology said a potential second quake could occur “within 24 hours” and could have a magnitude of close to 9.0.
There have been no reports of injuries from Sunday’s quake, which struck at a depth of 6 km (3.7 miles) and was centered 108 km (67 miles) southeast of the nearest city, according to Russia’s emergency management agency.
Russian news outlets reported that residents of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, a port city of more than 181,000 people and located across from an important Russian submarine base, reported the strongest tremors they had felt “in a long time.”
On November 4, 1952, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck Kamchatka, causing damage but no deaths, despite waves as high as 9.1 m (30 ft) in Hawaii.
