A powerful magnitude 7.8 earthquake off the coast of the Alaska Peninsula in the southwestern part of the state Tuesday night caused tsunami warnings that were later canceled.
The earthquake occurred around 10:13 pm around 75 miles south of the Chignik community, according to the National Tsunami Warning Center. It was 8 miles deep.
According to the warning center, tsunami warnings were issued for a stretch of Alaska from about 40 miles southwest of Homer to Unimak Pass, 80 miles northeast of Unalaska. Parts of the Aleutian Islands were also under a tsunami alert.
Around 12:20 am, all tsunami warnings had been canceled. A tsunami occurred but was no longer a threat, authorities said, and people were urged not to reoccupy danger zones until permission was given by local officials.
The height of the tsunami was 0.8 feet, which was observed at Sand Point, about 100 miles southwest of Chignik, the center of the tsunami said.
In Kodiak, a high school was established as an emergency shelter, as the warnings urged people to move inland and seek higher ground. The video from outside the school showed people gathered there.
Kodiak City Manager Mike Tvenge said an evacuation order had been issued for the city and residents were told to go to high school. Kodiak is a coastal city of about 6,000 in the northeast part of Kodiak Island, about 250 miles southwest of Anchorage.
“We are all clean and back in our homes. And we are grateful,” said Kodiak Mayor Pat Branson.
United States Geological Survey geophysicist Robert Sanders said in a telephone interview shortly after the earthquake that there were around 100 reports that it was felt on the Alaska Peninsula, and that the strongest blows were recorded in Perryville, a about 60 miles from the epicenter.
Strong earthquakes are quite common in the area, he said, and there have been a series of tremors of magnitude 7 or greater.
