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A powerful earthquake that struck off Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula on July 29 has triggered a chain reaction of volcanic eruptions along the Pacific Ring of Fire. The 8.8 magnitude quake, followed by multiple aftershocks as strong as magnitude 6, appears to have reawakened long-dormant giants. Klyuchevskaya Sopka erupted a day after the seismic event for the first time in 600 years. Several other volcanoes, Shiveluch, Bezymianny, Karymsky and Avachinsky, have also roared back to life after roughly 300 years of dormancy. Meanwhile, scientists have detected a thermal anomaly at Mutnovsky, indicating rising heat and suggesting an eruption may be imminent....

PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY, February 8 (Itar-Tass) - The Klyuchevskaya Sopka volcano on the Kamchatka Peninsula on Tuesday spewed incandescent gas and vapour to an altitude of up to three kilometres. The trail of the emissions has stretched for 50 kilometres to the northeast of the volcano. A cloud containing volcanic ash particles moves in the direction of the town of Klyuchi (water-springs), which is situated at a distance of about 30 km from the volcano. Yuri Demyanchuk, a staff member of the Klyuchi-based volcano monitoring station, has told Itar-Tass by telephone.