A powerful magnitude 7.3 earthquake shook the sea floor approximately 55 miles south of Sand Point, Alaska, at 12:38 p.m. local time Wednesday, prompting the National Weather Service to issue a tsunami warning for portions of the Alaska Peninsula.
There were 40 aftershocks detected within the first three hours, the Alaska Earthquake Center said.
“We have seen other earthquakes in the area that have not generated significant tsunami waves, but we’re treating it seriously and going through our procedures, making sure communities are notified so they can activate their evacuation procedures,” said Jeremy Zidek, a spokesperson for Alaska's emergency management division.
The quake was felt as far away as Anchorage, almost 600 miles to the northeast.
The initial warning, sent to residents through alerts and mobile devices, sent the region’s remote coastal communities into a state of heightened anxiety before conditions were eventually deemed safe.
The highest water level generated by the earthquake in Sand Point was not quite 2.5 inches above the tide, the center said.
“There’s no damage at the airport, doesn’t appear to be any damage at the harbor, no damage to speak of, really,” Sand Point Police Chief Benjamin Allen said.
In Unalaska, a fishing community of about 4,100, officials urged people in possible inundation zones to move at least 50 feet above sea level or 1 mile inland. In King Cove, which has about 870 residents on the south side of the Alaska Peninsula, officials sent an alert calling on those in the coastal area to move to higher ground.
“NO DANGER TO ANCHORAGE! Anchorage, A ‘Tsunami Warning’ may have just hit your cell phones. THIS TSUNAMI WARNING IS NOT FOR THE ANCHORAGE AREA! This message was in response to a large magnitude earthquake southwest of Anchorage, and the message zones overlapped,” their post reads.
The Oahu Office of Emergency Management the same from afar, noting, “NO Tsunami threat to Oahu from 7.2 magnitude earthquake in Alaska Peninsula. NO Tsunami threat to Oahu.”