YUZHNO-SAKHALINSK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th August, 2020) SAKHALINSK, Russia, August 28 (Sputnik) - A 5.1 magnitude earthquake was registered on Friday in the Pacific Ocean near Russia's South Kuril Islands, the regional branch of the Geophysical Survey of the Russian academy of Sciences (GS RAS) told Sputnik.
"The 5.1 magnitude earthquake was registered at 1:14 a.m. [14:14 on Thursday GMT]. Its epicenter was located ... 59 kilometers [over 36 miles] southeast of the Island of Iturup. The epicenter laid at a depth of 50 kilometers," the head of the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk seismological station said.
The head of the station added that residents of the Shikotan and Kunashir islands had felt the 2-3 magnitude tremor.
The Kuril Islands are located in a seismically active zone known as the Ring of Fire, which is regularly affected by powerful earthquakes. On November 5, 1952, the 9.0 magnitude earthquake triggered a huge tsunami that devastated the town of Severo-Kurilsk, leaving more than 2,300 people killed.
