Earthquake triggered Tsunami warning off Alaskan Peninsula

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – A magnitude 7.8 earthquake in a large section of coastal waters off the Alaskan Peninsula triggered a tsunami warning that called for local residents to evacuate to higher ground Tuesday night, Anchorage Daily News (ADN) reports. The warning was finally canceled at 12.30 am Wednesday when officials said the tsunami no longer posed a threat on land.

The earthquake occurred at 10:12 p.m. on Tuesday at a depth of around 17 miles, ADN reported. According to the US Geological Survey, it was felt as far away as Anchorage. Michael West, a seismologist at the Alaska Earthquake Center told ADN: “This is a very significant earthquake in size.”

Adding that this type of earthquake was typical for the region, West said it was “more or less” the same kind as the Great Alaska Earthquake of 1964, in which 131 people were killed. “These are the style of earthquakes which can be very tsunami-producing,” West said.

The tsunami warning affected an area ranging from the Alaska Peninsula to Kodiak Island and the wester Kenai Peninsula, ADN reported. Residents in communities including Kodiak, Sand Point, Unalaska, and Homer were told to move to higher ground. The National Tsunami Warning Center also told locals not to return to dangerous areas until told it was safe to do so.

The National Tsunami Warning Center said Tuesday night that signs of a tsunami are a “rapidly receding or receded shoreline, unusual waves and sounds, and strong currents.” Moreover, the center said: “The tsunami may appear as water moving rapidly out to sea, a gentle rising tide like flood with no breaking wave, as a series of breaking waves, or a frothy wall of water.”

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