WARNINGS of a possible tsunami within 300km of a shallow magnitude 7.8 quake off the coast of Russia have been cancelled..

The epicentre is reported to have been 234km of Nikol’Skoye, Russia, among the Komandorski islands of the Bering Strait.

A tsunami advisory was initially issued by the US NWS for residents of the nearby Aleutian Islands, Alaska. But it has since reported the threat ‘has passed’.

Tue Jul 18 00:11:26 UTC 2017 event picture pic.twitter.com/gr5T0kq3MQ — NWS Tsunami Alerts (@NWS_NTWC) July 18, 2017

Big #earthquake off the E coast of Kamchatka, #Russia in N Pacific. M7.4 per USGS. There was a significant M6+ foreshock there yesterday pic.twitter.com/PVSMpRj1EW — James Reynolds (@EarthUncutTV) July 17, 2017

Automated reporting systems indicate the quake happened at a shallow depth of about 10km, potentially sending ripples through the seafloor above.

Initially reported as magnitude 7.4, the US National Weather Service later revised this upwards - stating it was of 7.8 strength.

The quake was in the Bering Strait, on the Russian side of the channel which separates it from Alaska. The Komandorski and Aleutian Islands form a chain between the two continents.

The region is sparsely populated, prompting the US Geological Survey’s automated threat analysis system to report a ‘green’ level of threat - indicating low human impact.

A magnitude 6.2 shock was recorded in the same area yesterday.