“According to visual evaluations, the ash column is rising as high as 8 kilometres (5 miles) above the sea level,” TASS reported on Sunday morning local time, adding the volcano had released a gush of lava.
There are no reports of people injured, TASS said.
The Shiveluch volcano is around 450km from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, a coastal city with a population of about 181,000 that lies in Russia’s eastern region of Kamchatka.
No “major damage” was caused by the quake, TASS reported, however, “buildings are now being examined for potential damage, with special attention paid to social facilities.”
The quake, with a preliminary magnitude of 7.0, struck in the Pacific off the far eastern coast of Russia near a major naval base.
It prompted a tsunami warning that was later lifted.
Social media footage has emerged showing buildings shaking and trembling during the earthquake.
The earthquake occurred 29km below the surface and its epicentre was about 102km east of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, the US Geological Survey said.
Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky is a port city of more than 181,000 people surrounded by volcanoes and sits across a bay from an important Russian submarine base.
The US National Weather Service’s Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre in Honolulu initially warned that hazardous tsunami waves were possible for coasts within 480km of the earthquake epicentre, but later announced the threat had ended.
The centre said minor sea level fluctuations could occur in some coastal areas near the earthquake site for several hours.
This is a developing story. More to come.
With CNN, Associated Press.