MOSCOW, Sept 19 (AFP): A powerful 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Russia's far eastern Kamchatka peninsula early Friday, rocking buildings and prompting authorities to issue a tsunami alert, later lifted.
Videos posted on Russian social media showed furniture and light fixtures shaking in homes, while another showed a parked car rocking back and forth on a street.
The quake struck 128 kilometres (80 miles) east of the region's capital, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, and at a shallow depth of 10 kilometres (six miles), the US Geological Survey (USGS) reported.
The local branch of Russia's state geophysical service gave a lower estimated magnitude of 7.4. It reported at least five aftershocks.
The US Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre issued an alert for possible hazardous waves along nearby coastlines, but said several hours later that the threat had passed.
"This morning is once again testing the resilience of Kamchatka residents," the governor of the region, Vladimir Solodov, said on Telegram.
"There are currently no reports of damage. I ask everyone to remain calm," he added.
The Kamchatka peninsula lies on a tectonic belt known as the Ring of Fire, which surrounds most of the Pacific Ocean, and is a hotspot for seismic activity.
In July, an 8.8-magnitude mega-quake off the region's coast triggered a tsunami that swept part of a coastal village into the sea and sparked warnings around the Pacific.
Meanwhile, a shallow earthquake of magnitude 6.1 struck Indonesia's Central Papua province on Friday, the US Geological Survey (USGS) reported, with no initial reports of casualties.
The USGS said the earthquake's epicentre was located 28 kilometres (17 miles) south of the town of Nabire in the Central Papua province, which is on the Indonesian half of the large Pacific island shared with Papua New Guinea.
Abdul Muhari, a spokesman for the national disaster mitigation agency, said the quake had damaged several public facilities but there were no reports of casualties.
"Initial monitoring also reported broken glass in an airport, collapsed ceilings in a regent's office, a damaged bridge, and power and telecommunication networks cut off," Abdul said in a statement.
The jolt woke local residents who immediately rushed outside.
"The earthquake struck at around 3 am (1800 GMT on Thursday). I was sleeping soundly but it was getting bigger, so I ran outside with other family members," 37-year-old Cicilia Mamman told AFP.
While the USGS reported the quake at a 6.1 magnitude and depth of 10 kilometres, Indonesia's Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysical Agency gave it a magnitude of 6.5 -- updating from earlier reading of 6.6 -- and a depth of 24 kilometres.
The agency's head of earthquake and tsunami mitigation, Daryono, who goes by one name, said on X that 50 aftershocks had been recorded-the largest with a magnitude of 5.1 -- as of 7:30 am Jakarta time.
