West News Wire: A strong 7.2-magnitude earthquake occurred close to the Alaska Peninsula late on Saturday.
The National Weather Service says that based on preliminary data, the earthquake occurred roughly 55 miles southwest of Sand Point, Alaska. The United States Geological Survey posted on Twitter that it had been first estimated to have a magnitude of 7.4.
Around 10:48 p.m. local time, it occurred. According to a video shared on social media, sirens blasted late at night in Kodiak, Alaska.
The earthquake prompted the National Weather Service in Anchorage to issue a brief tsunami warning, stating that there was a potential of “significant inundation,” an alert that was then modified to an advisory before being completely cancelled early Sunday.
The NWS National Tsunami Warning Centre stated that although a tsunami was caused by this incident, it no longer posed a hazard. Some regions “may still experience minor sea level changes.”
In a previous update, the centre had issued a warning, advising residents along the coast to “move off the beach and out of harbours and marinas.”
Weather officials had issued a brief tsunami warning prior to the advisory that indicated intervals covering a period of around 90 minutes when tsunami waves were anticipated to impact the coastline “from Chignik Bay to Unimak Pass.”
The service’s Anchorage branch announced the earlier warning on Twitter with the phrase “Significant inundation is possible or already occurring.” “Move farther inland to higher ground.”
According to the management agency for the state of Hawaii, there was no tsunami hazard.
According to a USGS assessment of the occurrence, the earthquake occurred along the Alaska-Aleutian subduction zone, a region known for its frequent big tremors.
Nine further earthquakes measuring M7 or higher have struck within 250 km of the incident on July 16, 2023, according to USGS data.
On April 1, 1946, an 8.6-magnitude earthquake that was located 93 miles away triggered a tsunami that “devastated the lighthouse on Unimak Island and swept away its five occupants,” according to USGS officials. According to the report, tsunamis caused by that earthquake also claimed the lives of 159 additional individuals in Hawaii and one person in California.
The second greatest earthquake ever recorded by modern science occurred on March 27, 1964, with a 9.2-magnitude in the Alaska-Aleutian Trench.
