Powerful 7.0 quake strikes near remote Russian-held island

A powerful quake of magnitude 7.0 struck near the Kuril Islands on Tuesday, an archipelago in the North Pacific disputed between Russia and Japan, US seismologists said.

A powerful quake of magnitude 7.0 struck near the Kuril Islands on Tuesday, an archipelago in the North Pacific disputed between Russia and Japan, US seismologists said.

Russian seismologists put the magnitude of the quake at 6.8, according to RIA Novosti news agency.

The quake hit 295 kilometres (180 miles) northeast of the town of Kurilsk at a depth of 39.1 kilometres (24.3 miles) at 0423 GMT, the National Earthquake Information Center of the US Geological Survey said on its website.

The Kuril Islands, which are the subject of a territorial dispute between Moscow and Tokyo dating back to World War II, are seismically active and the site of frequent earthquakes.

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