Apr 20, 2006 9:27 pm US/Pacific
Magnitude 7.7 Quake Strikes Russia's Far East
KORYAKIA, Russia (AP) ―
A major earthquake hit a distant, sparsely populated region of Russia's Far East early Friday, causing unknown damage and possible casualties, an emergency official said. The U.S. Geological Survey and Japan's Meteorological Agency estimated the quake's magnitude at 7.7.
The quake hit around 12:45 p.m. local time in Koryak region, nearly 4,350 miles east of Moscow and some 600 miles north of the largest city in the area, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, said Oleg Kotosanov, a duty officer with the regional emergency situations ministry.
Kotosanov told The Associated Press by telephone that there were reports of damage in some villages of the Pacific region, and that emergency officials were flying by helicopter to several locations. Federal emergency officials in Moscow said they had no information about the quake.
"It's the largest event in this area since 1900," said A.B. Wade, a spokeswoman for the USGS. "It's a sparsely populated area; up to 2,000 people were exposed to intensive shaking."
The Russian quake posed no tsunami risk to the western United States and Canada, according to the West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center.
Russia's north Pacific coast sits along a major tectonic plate and is frequently hit by earthquakes and volanic eruptions.
By comparision, the great San Francisco earthquake of 1906, which destroyed more than half of the city's buildings and left between 3,000 and 6,000 people dead 100 years ago this week, was estimated at a magnitude of between 7.7 and 7.9.
The USGS said the quake occured about 30 miles below the earth's surface.
(© 2006 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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