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A nuclear submarine base in Russia’s remote far east region was damaged last week after one of the most powerful earthquakes to hit the area in decades, the New York Times reported on Monday, citing satellite images.
Photos captured by Planet Labs, a commercial satellite imaging firm, show damage to a floating pier at the Rybachiy submarine base on the Kamchatka Peninsula.
One section of the pier appears to have broken away from its anchor point. Aside from the damaged pier, the satellite imagery does not show any other major destruction.
Reuters could not independently verify the report. Russia’s defence ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A powerful magnitude-8.8 earthquake off Russia’s far eastern Kamchatka coast on Wednesday triggered tsunami warnings as far away as French Polynesia and Chile, and was followed by an eruption of the most active volcano on the peninsula.
The earthquake was one of the most powerful ever recorded but resulted in relatively small amounts of damage thanks to a global and highly successful disaster response effort.
The worst damage was seen in Russia, where a tsunami crashed through the port of Severo-Kurilsk and submerged the local fishing plant, officials said. Russian state television footage showed buildings and debris swept into the sea.
The surge of water reached as far as the town’s second world war monument about 400 meters from the shoreline. The initial quake also caused limited damage and only light injuries, despite being the strongest since 2011, when 15,000 people were killed in Japan.
The Rybachiy nuclear submarine base – a strategic hub for Russia’s Pacific fleet – serves as a facility for the maintenance, deployment and operations of the country’s nuclear-powered submarines in the Pacific region.
