6.0 quake off Russia's far-east Kamchatka coastline

A 6.0-magnitude earthquake struck Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula early Tuesday followed by a series of strong after-shocks, AFP reports citing the US Geological Survey. The first quake struck at a depth of 33 kilometres (20 miles) at 0155 GMT, 136 kilometres east-southeast of the Russian city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, the USGS reported. It was followed by three after-shocks, the strongest of which measured 5.9 magnitude at a depth of 44 kilometres, it added. The Kamchatka branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences' geophysics service said on its website that the quake's magnitude measured 6.1, followed by aftershocks with a magnitude of up to 6.0. The earthquake did not cause any casualties, the Kamchatka branch of the Emergency Situations ministry said in a statement. "There is no risk of a tsunami. There are no casualties or damage." The Kamchatka peninsula is where the Pacific tectonic plate meets part of the North American one, making the region one of the most seismically active in the world.