By Daria Tarasova-Markina, Lauren Kent and Katharina Krebs, CNN
Video released by the health ministry in Russia's Kamchatka region shows the moment the powerful 8.8 magnitude earthquake struck doctors were performing surgery at Kamchatka Cancer Center.
Doctors are seen holding onto the patient, surgical equipment and monitors as the room shakes violently.
"Despite the danger, the doctors remained calm and stayed with the patient until the end," Kamchatka's Health Minister Oleg Melnikov said. "At the moment, the patient is doing well."
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Rescuers inspect a damaged kindergarten building in Russia's Kamchatka region after the 8.8 magnitude earthquake struck off Russia's far east coast. Photo: AFP
Oncologist Yana Gvozdeva, one of the doctors performing the surgery, said that the operation was already taking place when the earthquake started, according to a post on the website of Kamchatka region authorities.
"We secured the patient as much as possible so that there would be no indirect processes: the patient did not fall off the table, the instruments did not fall," she said.
"In turn, the anesthesiologist also secured the equipment that was nearby, because without an anesthesia machine you can't go anywhere. If the machine somehow disconnects from the patient, then the consequences, of course, can be dangerous, fatal," Gvozdeva continued.
The doctors who performed the surgery, which was to remove a tumour, will be nominated for state awards, according to the post.
Tsunami-hit Severo-Kurilsk on Paramushir island of Russia's northern Kuril islands. Photo: AFP / HANDOUT
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