A volcano erupted in the far east of Russia, followed by an earthquake

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An earthquake erupts in far eastern Russia, sending bullets 20km into the sky; a large ash cloud in far eastern Russia; residents walking through drifts of ash; An earthquake strikes off the coast of Kamchatka

One of Russia’s most active volcanoes erupted on the easternmost Kamchatka Peninsula on Tuesday, spewing a huge cloud of ash into the sky, smothering villages in drifts of gray volcanic dust and causing the volcano to explode. Aviation warning.

The Shivluch volcano erupted shortly after midnight and reached its peak about six hours later, spewing a cloud of ash over 108,000 square kilometers (41,700 square miles), according to the Kamchatka branch of the Geophysical Survey of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Lava gushed from the volcano, melting snow prompting a mudflow warning along a nearby highway while villages were carpeted in drifts of gray ash up to 8.5 cm (3.5 in) deep, the deepest in 60 years.

Pictures showed the cloud rising over forests and rivers in the Far East and villages covered in ash.

“The ash has reached a height of 20 kilometers, the ash cloud has moved west, and there has been a very strong fall of ash on nearby villages,” said Danila Cheprov, director of the Kamchatka Branch of the Geophysical Survey.

“The volcano has been preparing for this for at least a year … and the process is continuing, although it has calmed down a bit now,” Cheprov said.

About 24 hours after the volcano began erupting, the geological survey said, an earthquake measuring 5.8 on the Richter scale struck off the coast of Kamchatka. Russian scientists said the quake was a follow-up to an earthquake on April 3.

About 300,000 people live on Russia’s vast Kamchatka Peninsula, which juts into the Pacific Ocean northeast of Japan.

[1/4] A view showing cars covered in volcanic dust after the eruption of the Shivluch volcano in the settlement of Klyuchi on the Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia April 11, 2023. Official page of Oleg Bondarenko, head of the Ust-Kamchatsky district municipality / Posted via REUTERS

The volcano, one of Kamchatka’s largest and most active, is now likely to subside, Cheprov said, though he cautioned that more major ash clouds could not be ruled out. Cheprov said that the lava flows should not reach the local villages.

There were no immediate reports of casualties, although scientists said the volcano was still erupting 15 hours after the eruption began.

Ash drifts

The Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT) issued an aviation red notice, saying that “ongoing activity may affect international and low-flying aircraft.”

Some schools on the peninsula, about 6,800 kilometers east of Moscow, have been closed and residents have been ordered to stay home, said the head of the Ust-Kamchatsky district municipality, Oleg Bondarenko, in a post on Telegram.

“Because of what I just saw here with my own eyes, it would be impossible for children to go to school, and in general the presence of children here is questionable,” Bondarenko said.

He said that electricity has been restored to the residents and drinking water has been supplied to them.

Shiveluch has experienced an estimated 60 major eruptions in the past 10,000 years, with the most recent in 2007.

It consists of two main parts, the smallest of which – Young Shiveluch – has been very active in recent months, scientists report, with a 2,800-meter (9,186-foot) peak jutting out from the 3,283-meter Old Shiveluch.

Written by Jay Faulconbridge. Reporting by Eileen Monaghan and Reuters. Editing by Peter Graf and Alex Richardson

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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