Russia: Shiveluch volcano in the Kamchatka region erupted following a major earthquake
MOSCOW – The Shiveluch volcano in Russia’s far eastern region of Kamchatka has erupted at night from Saturday to Sunday, ejecting ash and lava. The eruption unfolded following a 7-magnitude earthquake hitting the area.
“The eruption of the Shiveluch volcano has begun,” scientists said. “According to visual evaluations, the ash column is rising as high as 8 kilometres above the sea level,” the Institute of Volcanology and Seismology of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences has told TASS.
The press service of the Russian emergencies department indicated that the eruption did not affect the daily life of local citizens. Nevertheless, they warned of an ongoing eruption with ash columns rising up to 10 km above the sea level.
“A minor ash fall was registered in the [nearby] settlement of Ust-Kamchatsk in the morning of August 18 [local time]. The settlement’s daily life was unaffected,” said the statement.
The Shiveluch volcano is approximately 450 kilometres from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, a coastal city of around 181,000 inhabitants located in the eastern Kamchatka region of Russia.
