Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky

Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, port and administrative center of Kamchatka kray (territory), far eastern Russia. It lies along the landlocked Avachinskaya Gulf, on the Pacific coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula. The city was founded in 1740 during Vitus Bering’s second Kamchatka expedition. In 1854, during the Crimean War, an Anglo-French attack on Petropavlovsk was repulsed. The modern city is a fishing center and has fish-processing, can-making, net-making, and ship-repairing industries. In July 2025 an 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck offshore approximately 75 miles (about 120 km) southeast of Petropavlovsk. The quake was one of the most powerful ever recorded, and tsunami alerts were triggered across the Pacific. Property damage in the city was relatively minor, however, and no deaths were reported. Pop. (2021) 164,900.