A volcano in Russia’s eastern Kamchatka region has erupted for the first time in 450 years, the country’s emergency authority announced Sunday, just days after one of the strongest earthquakes on record struck the area.
Russian state media released striking images showing a towering plume of ash billowing from the Krasheninnikov volcano, which last erupted in 1550, according to the Smithsonian Institution’s Global Volcanism Program.
Kamchatka’s Ministry of Emergency Situations reported on Telegram that the ash plume reached an estimated height of 6,000 metres (19,700 feet).
“The plume is spreading eastward from the volcano toward the Pacific Ocean. There are no populated areas along its path, and no ashfall has been recorded in inhabited localities,” the ministry said.
The volcano has been assigned an “orange” aviation hazard code, indicating that flights in the vicinity could face disruptions.
This eruption follows the activity of Klyuchevskoy, another volcano in the region and the highest active volcano in Europe and Asia, which erupted on Wednesday. Klyuchevskoy’s eruptions are relatively common, with at least 18 recorded since 2000, according to the Global Volcanism Program.
Both eruptions came shortly after a magnitude 8.8 earthquake struck off Petropavlovsk on Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula on Wednesday. The quake was among the strongest ever recorded and triggered tsunami warnings and evacuations affecting millions of people across coastal areas from Japan to Hawaii to Ecuador.
The worst damage occurred in Russia, where a tsunami wave surged through the port of Severo-Kurilsk, flooding a fishing plant and causing significant destruction, officials reported.
The recent quake was the strongest in the region since the 2011 magnitude 9.1 earthquake off Japan, which generated a devastating tsunami that claimed over 15,000 lives.
AFP
