Magnitude 5.3 earthquake hits Russia's Kuril Islands

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) – The Russian seismologists registered a magnitude 5.3 earthquake in the Pacific Ocean near the Kuril Islands in the Russian Sakhalin region on Tuesday.

The tremor occurred at 9:45 a.m. Moscow time (0645GMT), said the Sakhalin branch of the Geophysical Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

"The epicenter of the earthquake was located 107 kilometers (66.5 miles) east of Onekotan Island at a depth of 78 km (48.5 mi)," the seismic station said.

There was no damage or no casualties reported. No tsunami alert was announced.