A magnitude 8.3 earthquake struck in the Sea of Okhotsk of Friday. According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the epicenter of the quake was located just off the coast of Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula, in the far eastern part of the country. The massive quake was followed by a smaller (but still very large) magnitude 6.8 aftershock further out in the Sea of Okhotsk.
The quakes occurred deep in the Earth, with both centered at a depth of more than 600 km (about 372 miles). Neither the USGS’s West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center nor its Pacific Tsunami Warning Center have issued tsunami warnings connected to the Okhotsk quakes. No deaths have been reported as a result of the quakes.
Several large earthquakes have been reported in the past two months. In April 2013, an 7.8 magnitude earthquake in Iran caused extensive damage to rural communities in neighboring Pakistan. That massive quake was followed within days by a quake in Papua new Guinea that was measured at magnitude 6.8, a quake in northern Japan that was measured at magnitude 7.2, and another Papua New Guinea quake measured at magnitude 6.4.