(LONDON) — The massive magnitude 8.8 earthquake that struck off Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula last week has triggered the activity of seven volcanoes in the area, according to the Institute of Volcanology and Seismology of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS).

The RAS said this is the first time in almost 300 years that seven volcanoes erupted at once in the region. Director of the institute Alexey Ozerov described the situation as an “extremely rare phenomenon that can be described as a parade of volcanic eruptions.”

The magnitude 8.8 earthquake that struck late on July 29 caused several aftershocks, including a magnitude 6 aftershock in the Pacific Ocean near Kamchatka at 6 a.m. local time Tuesday morning, according to the Kamchatka branch of the Unified G

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