The tsunami warning was issued Monday after a large 7.5 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Alaska, US agencies said.
The tsunami watch covers much of the southern coast of the remote US state, including the sparsely populated Alaska Peninsula, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The hazard zone currently extends hundreds of miles northeast to Cook Inlet, but stops just short of the state’s largest city of Anchorage, located at the end of that gulf.
“The level of tsunami danger is being assessed,” the agency warned.
The earthquake struck about 57 miles (92 km) from the small town of Sand Point, at a depth of 25 miles (40 km), the United States Geological Survey said.
There was “a low probability of casualties and damage” from the earthquake itself, the USGS added.
The great earthquake was followed by at least four aftershocks of magnitude 5.0 or greater.
The earthquake was felt in the nearby community of King Cove on the Alaska Peninsula, but everything appeared to be intact, city manager Gary Hennigh told the Anchorage Daily News.
“Residents and cannery workers are evacuating to higher ground until we learn more about the tsunami warning,” Hennigh said.
Cold Bay resident Michael Ashley said the earthquake was “a pretty good trip.”
“All the sofas, recliners and bookcases were moving and I had to hold one of them,” he told the newspaper.
No information was immediately available on possible casualties or damage elsewhere.
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