“The 5.6 magnitude earthquake was registered at 7:55 a.m. [20:55 on Tuesday GMT] near the Kuril Islands. The epicentre of tremors was located … 140 kilometres [87 miles] south of the Island of Iturup, at the depth of 60 kilometres,” a head of the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk seismological station said.
The head of the station added that residents of the Malokurilskoye village on the island of Shikotan had felt the 3.0 magnitude tremors.
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The Kuril Islands are located in a seismically active zone known as the Ring of Fire, which is regularly affected by powerful earthquakes. On November 5, 1952, the 9.0 magnitude earthquake triggered a huge tsunami that devastated the town of Severo-Kurilsk, leaving more than 2,300 people killed.