A powerful 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck Russia's Kuril Islands, located in the northern Pacific Ocean near the Kamchatka Peninsula, which was the epicentre of the 8.8-magnitude earthquake last month, the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre said on Saturday.

On August 3, another 6.8-magnitude earthquake was reported in the Kuril Islands, triggering tsunami warnings in parts of Russia.

A massive magnitude 8.8 earthquake struck off the eastern coast of Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula on July 30, triggering widespread tsunami warnings across the Pacific.

The seismic event was one of the strongest globally in more than a decade and is tied as the sixth-largest ever recorded since modern records began.

The earthquake originated from the convergent boundary between the Pacific Plate and the Okhotsk Sea Plate (often associated with the North American Plate in this region) at the Kuril-Kamchatka Trench.

After the quake, tsunami warnings were quickly issued for the coasts of Russia, Japan, Alaska, Guam, Hawaii, and other Pacific islands. Authorities in Kamchatka reported waves of 3–4 m in some areas, causing evacuations in multiple coastal settlements like Severo-Kurilsk and prompting residents to move away from shorelines immediately.

The series of earthquakes are a clear example of why the Ring of Fire is notorious for powerful earthquakes and tsunamis, driven by subduction zone dynamics.

The Ring of Fire is a horseshoe-shaped geological zone along the edges of the Pacific Ocean. It is prone to earthquakes and tsunamis because it lies at the boundaries of multiple tectonic plates, including the massive Pacific Plate and several surrounding smaller plates.

Source: India Today