A powerful 7.8 earthquake shook the Alaska Peninsula on Tuesday night, prompting a tsunami warning that sent residents to flee to higher ground before it was suspended without damaging waves.
According to the US Geological Survey, the 7.8 magnitude earthquake occurred on Tuesday at 10:12 pm local time. The earthquake focused on waters 65 miles (105 km) south-southeast of Perryville, Alaska, at a depth of 17 miles (28 km), deeper than a previous estimate.
The earthquake triggered a tsunami alert in southern Alaska, the Alaska Peninsula and the Aleutian Islands that was suspended early Wednesday morning approximately two hours after the earthquake.
Tsunami warning sirens were heard in videos posted on social media as residents listened to the evacuation warnings.
On Kodiak Island, the local high school opened its doors for evacuees, as did the local Catholic school, the Anchorage Daily News reported.
“We have a crowded high school,” said Larry LeDoux, superintendent of the Kodiak School District. “I have been wearing masks since the first siren sounded,” he told the Daily News.
“Everything is as calm as can be. We probably have 300, 400 people, all with masks, “he said.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said there had been no threat to other Pacific coasts of the United States and Canada in North America.
According to the USGS, six other earthquakes of magnitude 7.0 and greater have occurred since 1900 within 155 miles (250 km) of Tuesday’s earthquake. The largest of these was an 8.2 earthquake in 1938.
The Alaska-Aleutian Trench was also the center of a magnitude 9.2 earthquake in 1964.
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