Abstract This report contains the main results of recent investigations of telluric currents and sounding in seismoactive areas of East Kamchatka. It was established that in some cases the variations of seismic waves' travel times amounted to 0.16 sec and the amplitude variations to 50%. It was detected that the amplitude anomalies of telluric current field occurred before shallow earthquakes with M⩾4.5. They reached about 100–300 mv/mm before 3–16 days of shock moment. The physical interpretation of occurring effects has been carried out on the basis of laboratory and theoretical investigations.