Volcanic Eruption Follows Massive Earthquake in Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula

A powerful volcanic eruption has followed a massive magnitude 8.8 earthquake that struck Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula, triggering tsunami alerts across the Pacific—from California to Chile.

The Klyuchevskaya Sopka volcano, one of the tallest and most active volcanoes in the Northern Hemisphere, erupted just hours after the quake. Lava flowed down its western flank accompanied by explosive activity, prompting alarm across the region. Authorities confirmed that the volcanic eruption was directly linked to the intense seismic activity.

The earthquake, one of the strongest ever recorded—it ranks as the sixth most powerful in modern history—occurred early Wednesday, damaging buildings and causing multiple injuries in remote parts of Kamchatka.

In Severo-Kurilsk, a coastal town in the south of the peninsula, tsunami waves exceeding three meters swept away structures and debris into the ocean. Thanks to early evacuations, there have been no reported fatalities in the area.

“I felt like the walls were going to collapse at any moment. The shaking lasted for at least three minutes straight,” recounted Yaroslav, a 25-year-old resident of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, the regional capital.

As the day progressed, authorities in Russia, Japan, and the United States began lowering alert levels after confirming that tsunami waves reaching their shores were smaller than initially feared. However, warnings remain in place for parts of the French Polynesia and Marquesas Islands, where waves of up to eight feet (2.5 meters) are still expected. Residents have been instructed to move to higher ground.

The event has once again tested disaster preparedness systems throughout the Pacific Ring of Fire, one of the most seismically and volcanically active regions on Earth.