国际英语新闻:Massive earthquake jolts Sea of Okhotsk, no damage reported

VLADIVOSTOK/WASHINGTON, May 24 (Xinhua) -- A massive earthquake jolted Sea of Okhotsk from a depth of some 600 km at 0544 GMT Friday, shaking buildings in vast Russian regions, including Moscow.

No damage or casualties have been reported following the tremor, which the U.S. Geological Survey said in the latest update measured 8.3 on the Richter scale. It previously placed the magnitude at 8.2.

The quake, centered in the seismically active Kuril-Kamchatka arc, shook buildings all over Russia's Far East, including Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, capital of Kamchatka Krai, some 406 km from the epicenter.

Tremors were also felt in Moscow far to the west, some 30 years after the last time the Russian capital felt an earthquake.

Russian media reported that airports, railroads, schools, kindergartens, hospitals and other sensitive sites in the affected regions are being examined.

Emergency authorities in the Far East issued a tsunami warning for Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands, but lifted it shortly afterward.

The U.S. West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center said in a statement that due to the depth of the earthquake no tsunami is expected.