7.7 magnitude quake in Russia triggers tsunami warning

Moscow July 18 (IANS) An earthquake measuring 7.7 on the Richter scale triggered a tsunami warning on after it hit an area in the Bering Sea near Russia s Nikolskoye region the US Geological Survey (USGS) reported.

According to the USGS the tremor occurred late Monday night 199 km east of Nikolskoye on Bering Island where more than 600 people live at a depth of 11.7 km reports Efe news. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre issued a tsunami warning for Japan Russia the Marshall Islands and the island of Yap in Micronesia as well as Guam Hawaii the Northern Mariana Islands and other outlying areas of the US in the North Pacific Ocean. The chain of the Aleutian Islands where Bering Island is located is a zone with frequent seismic activity that extends to about 3 000 km from the US Gulf of Alaska in the east to the Russian peninsula of Kamchatka in the west. --IANS ksk