Magnitude-6.1 Quake Hits Russia’s Kuril Islands, Seismic Readings Vary

A series of moderate to strong earthquakes struck the Kuril Islands region off Russia’s Far East on 30 July, according to preliminary readings from seismological agencies. The German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) initially measured a magnitude-6.16 event near the island chain, while a nearly simultaneous bulletin from the U.S. Geological Survey put a separate shock at magnitude 5.2 about 128 kilometres southeast of Severo-Kurilsk. GFZ later issued additional estimates ranging from magnitude 6.07 to 6.17, and a subsequent update cited a magnitude-6.4 quake centred roughly 143 kilometres east-southeast of Severo-Kurilsk. The agencies did not immediately provide depth figures or assessment of damage, and no tsunami advisory was mentioned in the initial reports.