Did Kamchatka Earthquake Trigger First Volcano Eruption In 600 Years? What Russian Team Says

Last Updated:August 03, 2025, 14:40 IST

“This is the first historically confirmed eruption of Krasheninnikov Volcano in 600 years,” RIA cited Olga Girina, head of the Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team, as saying

The volcano eruption. (X/Volcahic, Volcaholic1)

The overnight eruption of the Krasheninnikov Volcano in Kamchatka, its first in 600 years, may be connected to the huge earthquake that rocked Russia’s Far East last week, Russia’s RIA state news agency and scientists reported on Sunday.

“This is the first historically confirmed eruption of Krasheninnikov Volcano in 600 years," RIA cited Olga Girina, head of the Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team, as saying.

She added that the eruption may be connected to the earthquake on Wednesday that triggered tsunami warnings as far away as French Polynesia and Chile, and was followed by an eruption of Klyuchevskoy, the most active volcano on the Kamchatka Peninsula, according to a CNN report.

On the Telegram channel of the Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, Girina said that Krasheninnikov’s last lava effusion took place in 1463 – plus or minus 40 years – and no eruption has been known since.

The Kamchatka branch of Russia’s ministry for emergency services said that an ash plume rising up to 6,000 meters (3.7 miles) has been recorded following the volcano’s eruption. The volcano itself stands at 1,856 meters.

“The ash cloud has drifted eastward, toward the Pacific Ocean. There are no populated areas along its path," the ministry said on Telegram.

The eruption of the volcano has been assigned an orange aviation code, indicating a heightened risk to aircraft, the ministry said.

All about Kamchatka earthquake

One of the world’s strongest earthquakes struck Russia’s Far East last week, an 8.8-magnitude temblor that caused small tsunami waves in Japan and Alaska and prompted warnings for Hawaii, North and Central America and Pacific islands south toward New Zealand.

Ports on the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia near the quake’s epicentre flooded as residents fled inland. Cars jammed streets and highways in Honolulu hours before tsunami waves were expected. Waves less than a foot above tide levels were observed in the Alaskan communities of Amchitka and Adak, said Dave Snider, tsunami warning coordinator with the National Tsunami Warning Center in Alaska.

EXPLAINED: Russia’s Earthquake Epicentre Kamchatka Is In Pacific Ring Of Fire: Why That Makes It More Dangerous

White waves washed up to the shoreline on Japan’s Hokkaido in the north and Ibaraki and Chiba, just northeast of Tokyo, in footage aired on Japan’s NHK public television. A tsunami of 50 centimeters (1.6 feet) was detected at the Ishinomaki port in northern Japan, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. That was the highest measurement so far among several locations around northern Japan. But higher waves were still arriving, said Shiji Kiyomoto, an earthquake and tsunami response official at JMA.

The earthquake’s epicentre was the Kamchatka Peninsula, which is part of the Pacific Ring of Fire.

With CNN, Agency Inputs

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August 03, 2025, 14:40 IST

News world Did Kamchatka Earthquake Trigger First Volcano Eruption In 600 Years? What Russian Team Says

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