Strong earthquake in Russia's Far East echoes in Moscow

Strong earthquake in Russia's Far East echoes in Moscow. 50167.jpeg

On Friday, May 24, a strong earthquake occurred in the Far East of Russia. According to preliminary data, the magnitude of the quake was about 8. The earthquake was so powerful that it went through the whole territory of Russia, and echoed even in Moscow.

The earthquake occurred at 09:44 Moscow time. The epicenter of tremors was located to the west of Kamchatka, in the Sea of Okhotsk, at a depth of more than 600 kilometers below the surface.

According to the Geophysical Service of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the earthquake had a magnitude of 8, reports Interfax. In connection with the earthquake, a threat of a tsunami was declared on the Okhotsk coast of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. An hour later, the tsunami warning was lifted.

"This earthquake in terms of strength is not outstanding at all. But it was deep - about 600 km, so tremors could be felt on very large distances," the director of the International Institute of Earthquake Prediction Theory and Mathematical Geophysics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Alexander Solovyov said.

Indeed, the tremors echoed throughout Russia and even in neighboring countries. "Almost the entire continent jolted" said the head of the Situation Centre of the Russian Meteorological Center, Anatoly Tsygankov said.

As for Russia, the wave of tremors from the Far East swept across Siberia. The tremors were reported in Barnaul, Tomsk, Kemerovo. In Novosibirsk, furniture was moving in apartments situated on high floors of apartment buildings.  Many people said that chandeliers were shaking, kitchen utensils were dinging, which, according to experts, corresponded to a five-magnitude quake on the Richter scale. In Krasnoyarsk, the power of shocks was 1.5-2. 

The tremors then reached the European part of the country. There was no information on casualties or damage received from any region of the country.

Even Muscovites could feel the light quake measuring not more than 1 on the Richter scale, this morning felt.

"In all likelihood, these are consequences of the underwater earthquake in the Sea of ​​Okhotsk. The epicenter of the quake was situated in Romania, at the junction of plates. What residents of Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod felt was a wave of tremors that came from Romania," the head of the Situation Centre of the Meteorological Center, Yuri Varakin said. 

Experts point out that such a phenomenon is rare for Moscow, of course, but it is quite possible. Earthquakes occurred in the past, for example, on March 4, 1977, when the earthquake came from the Carpathians to the RSFSR and shook Moscow with 4 points on the Richter scale.

"Moscow is in the zone of possible manifestations of echoes of different earthquakes that occur in the areas where they are a commonplace phenomenon. This is not dangerous, but it is important, for example, for the standard of construction," deputy director of the Institute of Geography of the  Russian Academy of Sciences, Arkady Tishkov said.