The earthquake's center was at a depth of two miles according to the US Geological Survey USGS, just under 15 miles from the Kamchatka Peninsula's only major city Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. The city has around 180,000 inhabitants.
Initially, there are no reports of damage, and the Russian rescue department announces that there have been no plans to evacuate areas near the coast.
The Pacific and North America's tectonic plates meet at the Kamchatka Peninsula, making it a seismically hot zone.
Since 1900, seven major earthquakes with a magnitude of 8.3 or higher have affected the area.
