Southern part of Kamchatka shifts 2 meters after quake - seismologists

PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY. Aug 5 (Interfax) - The southern part of the Kamchatka Peninsula shifted almost two meters southeastward after a major quake of July 30, the Kamchatka branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences' United Geophysical Service said in a statement on Telegram on Tuesday.

"We have made tentative estimates based on geodynamic observations. It appears that we have tangibly moved southeastward. The biggest co-seismic shifts observed after the earthquake of July 30 happened in the southern part of the peninsula. They are as big as two meters there, which is comparable to the horizontal shifts caused by the 2011 quake in Tohoku, Japan," the statement said.

"The shift was smaller" for the Petropavlovsk network of stations and Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, it said.

"This shift pattern is consistent with the preliminary shift model in the focus, where the effect reached its maximum on the southern flank of the vast focus, causing a full macro-seismic impact on Severo-Kurilsk and less than a full impact on Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky," the statement said.

As reported, the strongest quake since 1952 jolted the Kamchatka area in the morning of July 30. The quake was magnitude 8.8, with tremors of 6, 7 or higher magnitude across the peninsula. Tsunami alert was issued. The quake magnitude reached eight in Severo-Kurilsk and sent four tsunami waves, which damaged port infrastructure and some other industrial facilities.