Tsunami alert issued after powerful quakes strike off coast of Russia

Three powerful earthquakes struck off the coast of Russia’s far east on Sunday, triggering a tsunami alert, the US Geological Survey said.

Earlier 5.0-magnitude and 6.7-magnitude earthquakes did not initially trigger a tsunami alert, but were followed by a 7.4-magnitude quake at 0849 GMT, prompting the USGS to warn that “hazardous tsunami waves are possible” within 300 kilometres (186 miles) of the epicentre in the Pacific, off the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.