Two strong earthquakes strike off Russia's Kamchatka coast

Two strong earthquakes, measuring 6.0 and 5.7 in magnitude, struck off the coast of Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula within minutes of each other, according to the Kamchatka branch of the Unified Geophysical Service of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

The first earthquake, with a magnitude of 6.0, was recorded in the waters of Avachinskaya Bay. Its epicentre was located at a depth of 64.6 km, about 210 km from the regional capital, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Russian media reports.

Seven minutes later, a second earthquake measuring 5.7 struck the same area. Its hypocentre was recorded at a depth of 72 km.

Earlier on July 15, seismologists also detected a magnitude 4.5 earthquake off the southeastern coast of Kamchatka. The epicentre of that quake was located approximately 374 km from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.

By Sabina Mammadli