The Rybachiy base, which hosts nuclear-powered submarines from Russia’s Pacific Fleet, is around 80 miles from where the powerful earthquake that struck last week
A nuclear submarine base in Russia has reportedly been damaged after the region was rocked by one of the strongest earthquakes in decades.
A very powerful magnitude 8.8 earthquake off Russia’s Far Eastern Kamchatka coast on Wednesday last week triggered tsunami warnings as far away as French Polynesia and Chile, and caused six volcanoes to erupt across Russia with ash clouds being shot 26,250ft into the sky.
The Krasheninnikov volcano, located on Russia ‘s eastern seaboard, had been dormant for at least 520 years, but after a spate of earthquakes along the Russian coast, the huge natural structure is spewing lava once again.
READ MORE: Six Russian volcanoes now erupting after string of earthquakes
The first earthquake, which shook Russia and Japan on Wednesday (July 30), measured 8.8 on the Richter scale making it the sixth-strongest earthquake in history.
However, ahead of the second earthquake – which registered 6.8 magnitude – on Sunday morning (August 3), the Krasheninnikov started to spew lava. It is the first active eruption of the volcano in modern history.
The Rybachiy nuclear submarine base, a strategic hub for Russia’s Pacific Fleet, was about 80 miles away from the epicenter of the 8.8 magnitude earthquake, reports The New York Times.
The base, which serves as a facility for the maintenance, deployment, and operations of the country’s nuclear-powered submarines, is one of the key sites for Russia ’s Pacific Fleet on the Kamchatka Peninsula,
It has a number of floating piers, one of which appeared to have been badly damaged, according to satellite images taken on Sunday by Planet Labs, a commercial satellite company.
Some of Rybachiy’s floating piers are brand-new: At least two new piers have been commissioned and installed at the base since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began in 2022, according to the military.
The images show no other major damage, and several vessels, including five submarines, were seen moored at piers nearby. There has been no official announcement about damage at the base, and the Russian media has not spoken out. International bodies monitoring nuclear sites have not reported heightened radiation levels in the area.
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