The National Office of the Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of the United States lowered the alarm level to less severe, indicating that the affected areas “should not expect a generalized flooding,” it was reported this Monday (10/19/2020).
Residents in the alert area – which included much of the southern coast of this remote US state, including the sparsely populated Alaska Peninsula – were evacuated and taken to high ground.
Two foot (60 cm) waves were reported in the nearby small town of Sand Point, about 100 km from the epicenter of the earthquake, which struck at a depth of 40 km.
The risk zone extended hundreds of miles northeast to Cook Inlet, without encompassing the state’s largest city, Anchorage, located at the end of that gulf.
The quake was followed by at least four aftershocks of magnitude 5.0 or more.
The move was felt in the nearby community of King Cove on the Alaska Peninsula, but so far no damage has been reported, city manager Gary Hennigh told the Anchorage Daily News.
“Residents and workers at the cannery are being evacuated to higher ground until we learn more about the tsunami warning,” Hennigh added.
Cold Bay resident Michael Ashley recalled how the shaking passed. “All the sofas, recliners and shelves were moving, and I had to hold one of them,” he told the newspaper.
Monday’s earthquake came nearly three months after another 7.8 magnitude struck a nearby region.
Alaska is located in the seismically active Pacific Ring of Fire.
The state was hit by a 9.2 magnitude earthquake in March 1964, the strongest ever recorded in North America. It devastated Anchorage and unleashed a tsunami that struck the Gulf of Alaska, the west coast of the United States and Hawaii. More than 250 people died.
Last update at 07:13 CET.
jc (afp, dpa)
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Polar regions, icy spectacularity
The most northern region of the planet
The Arctic is cold, remote, but it is not desert. This region is home to four million inhabitants of various indigenous cultures. They are linked by extreme weather, latitude and, in recent times, shrinking sea ice caused by global warming.
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Polar regions, icy spectacularity
Canada, the place with the most Inuit
Inuit people have lived in Alaska, Greenland, and northern Canada for thousands of years. Their home is known as “Inuit Nunangat” and encompasses the land, water and ice of the Arctic. Photographer Acacia Johnson lived with the Inuit for six months on Baffin Island in Canada, the country where most of them live.
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Polar regions, icy spectacularity
The threat of climate change
The Inuit of Canada use sea ice as a platform for hunting and fishing expeditions, as well as for travel to hard-to-reach regions. The Arctic region is dominated by sea ice. Climate change has had a profound impact not only on animals and the environment, but also on the culture of the Inuit itself.
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Polar regions, icy spectacularity
By the 2040s, no more ice in summer
The ocean and atmosphere are warming and sea ice, the basis of all life in the Arctic, is diminishing. According to the predictions of several scientists, the Arctic could be ice-free in the summers of the 2040s. In practice, global warming means that some travel routes will be inaccessible and some traditional settlements as well.
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Polar regions, icy spectacularity
Arctic fauna
The Svalbard Archipelago is located between Norway and the North Pole. It never had an indigenous population, so it is a refuge for a rich arctic fauna, especially polar bears, known as “kings of the Arctic”. They are mammals that are highly dependent on the ecosystem formed by the stable ice sheet.
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Polar regions, icy spectacularity
Irregular ice layers
Ice is the platform for polar bears to hunt ringed seals, their main food and the most common species of seals in the Svalbard Archipelago. Although the region is home to well-protected polar bears, the effects of global warming are becoming progressively more visible. Especially in summer, the ice sheets are increasingly irregular.
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Polar regions, icy spectacularity
The white continent
Antarctica is also known as the “white continent”. It is practically uninhabited and is considered one of the last great wild natures on the planet. Despite its cold climate, the Antarctic marine ecosystem is home to a very rich fauna, with an abundance of penguins, seals and whales.
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Polar regions, icy spectacularity
Unspoiled nature
The entire food chain of the region’s fauna depends on Antarctic shrimp, which, in turn, depends on phytoplankton that flourish in low temperatures and abundant sea ice. The temperature of the climate rises and the shrimp decrease, which poses a threat to all the fauna of Antarctica. The region around the South Pole remains unspoiled.
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Polar regions, icy spectacularity
Dramatic contrasts
Acacia Johnson has been on more than 50 polar expeditions. He regards the Arctic as an extraordinarily vast and diverse region: “The Arctic is defined by constant change, by the dramatic contrasts between summer and winter, activity and hibernation, light and dark.” The photographer believes that the future of the polar regions is a global issue that needs to be addressed now.
Author: Caroline Schmitt
