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MOSCOW: A volcano erupted for the first time in 450 years in Russia’s eastern Kamchatka region, the nation’s emergency authority said Sunday, days after one of the strongest earthquakes on record hit the region.
Pictures released by Russian state media show a towering plume of ash spewing from the Krasheninnikov volcano, which last erupted in 1550, according to the Smithsonian Institution’s Global Volcanism Program.
The plume is estimated to have reached an altitude of 6,000 meters (19,700 feet), Kamchatka’s Ministry of Emergency Situations said in a post on Telegram.
“The plume is spreading eastward from the volcano toward the Pacific Ocean. There are no populated areas along its path, and no ashfall has been recorded in inhabited localities,” the ministry said.
The volcano has been assigned an “orange” aviation hazard code, the ministry added, meaning flights in the area may be disrupted.
It came after Klyuchevskoy, another volcano in the region — the highest active in Europe and Asia — erupted on Wednesday.
Eruptions of Klyuchevskoy are quite common, with at least 18 occurring since 2000, according to the Global Volcanism Program.
Both recent eruptions followed one of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded, which struck on Wednesday, sparking tsunami warnings and evacuations of millions of people from coastal areas from Japan to Hawaii to Ecuador.
The worst damage was seen in Russia, where a tsunami crashed through the port of Severo-Kurilsk and submerged a fishing plant, officials said.
The magnitude 8.8 quake struck off Petropavlovsk on Russia’s Kamchatka peninsula and was the strongest since 2011 when a magnitude 9.1 quake off Japan caused a tsunami that killed more than 15,000 people.

LOS ANGELES: Dr. Wafaa Alrashid noticed fewer of her patients were showing up for their appointments at the Los Angeles area hospital where she works as immigration raids spread fear among the Latino population she serves.
The Utah-born chief medical officer at Huntington Hospital understood their fear on a personal level. Her husband Rami Othmane, a Tunisian singer and classical musician, began carrying a receipt of his pending green card application around with him.
Over the past few months, immigration agents have arrested hundreds of people in Southern California, prompting protests against the federal raids and the subsequent deployment of the National Guard and Marines. Despite living in the US for a decade as one of thousands of residents married to US citizens, he was swept up in the crackdown.
On July 13, Othmane was stopped while driving to a grocery store in Pasadena. He quickly pulled out his paperwork to show federal immigration agents.
“They didn’t care, they said, ‘Please step out of the car,’” Alrashid recalled hearing the officers say as she watched her husband’s arrest in horror over FaceTime.
Alrashid immediately jumped in her car and followed her phone to his location. She arrived just in time to see the outline of his head in the back of a vehicle driving away.
“That was probably the worst day of my life,” she said.
The Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration has ensnared not only immigrants without legal status but legal permanent residents like Othmane who has green cards. Some US citizens have even been arrested. Meanwhile, many asylum-seekers who have regular check-in appointments are being arrested in the hallways outside courtrooms as the White House works toward its promise of mass deportations.
Alrashid said her husband has been in the US since 2015 and overstayed his visa, but his deportation order was dismissed in 2020. They wed in March 2025 and immediately filed for a green card.
After his arrest, he was taken to the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in downtown Los Angeles where he was held in a freezing cold room with “no beds, no pillows, no blankets, no soap, no toothbrushes and toothpaste, and when you’re in a room with people, the bathroom’s open,” she said.
The Department of Homeland Security in an emailed statement noted the expiration of his tourist visa but did not address the dismissal of the deportation order in 2020 nor his pending green card application.
The agency denied any allegations of mistreatment, and said “ensuring the safety, security, and well-being of individuals in our custody is a top priority at ICE.”
Alrashid said for years her husband has performed classical Arabic music across Southern California. They first met when he was singing at a restaurant.
“He’s the kindest person,” Alrashid said, adding that he gave a sweater she brought him to a fellow detainee and to give others privacy, he built a makeshift barrier around the open toilet using trash bags.
“He’s brought a lot to the community, a lot of people love his music,” she said.
More than a week after his arrest, fellow musicians, immigration advocates and activists joined Alrashid in a rally outside the facility.
A few of his colleagues performed classical Arabic music, drumming loud enough that they hoped the detainees inside could hear them. Los Jornaleros del Norte musicians, who often play Spanish-language music at rallies, also were there.
“In Latin American culture, the serenade — to bring music to people — is an act of love and kindness. But in this moment, bringing music to people who are in captivity is also an act of resistance,” said Pablo Alvarado, co-executive director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network.
Leading up to the rally, Alrashid was worried because she hadn’t received her daily call from her husband and was told she couldn’t visit him that day at the detention facility. She finally heard from him that evening.
Othmane told her over the phone he was now at an immigration detention facility in Arizona, and that his left leg was swollen.
“They should ultrasound your leg, don’t take a risk,” she said.
Alrashid hopes to get her husband out on bail while his case is being processed. They had a procedural hearing on Thursday where the judge verified his immigration status, and have a bail bond hearing scheduled for Tuesday.
Until then, she’ll continue waiting for his next phone call.