Tsunami Damages Russian Nuclear Submarine Base in Kamchatka, Telegraph Reports
Russia's Far East nuclear submarine base was likely affected by a tsunami that swept along the Kamchatka coast following a powerful earthquake.
The Gaze writes about it, referring to The Telegraph.
According to the publication, citing satellite images, high waves hit the Rybachy base on the Kamchatka Peninsula 15 minutes after the 8.8-magnitude earthquake.
The base is located in Avachinskaya Bay, about 120 km west of the earthquake's epicentre. The bay is also home to the Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky naval base, as well as several missile reloading and shipbuilding enterprises.
Images taken by the Umbra Space satellite on the morning of Thursday, 31 July, showed that part of one pier had shifted from its original position.
The base houses most of the Russian Pacific Fleet's nuclear submarines, including modern Borei-class nuclear submarines and Soviet Delta-class submarines. Preliminary reports indicate that they were not damaged, as they were not moored at the damaged pier.
Dr. Siddharth Kaushal, a research fellow at the British Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies (RUSI), noted that no signs of damage to the submarine fleet were detected in satellite images.
‘It appears that a surface ship was moored at the pier, not a submarine, which is noteworthy,’ he said.
At the same time, according to former Royal Navy commander Tom Sharp, the pier was at a ‘terrible angle,’ which will complicate the entry and exit of ships. He noted that the photo shows a tugboat near the pier, which could have been used for repairs.
A powerful earthquake with a magnitude of up to 8.8 occurred on Wednesday morning off the coast of Kamchatka. It caused a tsunami that threatened several countries in the Pacific region, including Russia, Japan, the United States and Canada. The governments of these countries issued evacuation warnings. The waves hit the coasts of Russia and Japan.
This is the most powerful earthquake in the world since 2011, when a natural disaster in northeastern Japan caused a catastrophic tsunami.
Waves 3-4 metres high have already been recorded in Kamchatka.