Residents of Alaskan island of Kodiak urged to move away from coastal areas but warning canceled after a few tense hours

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

A 7.9 magnitude earthquake struck off Alaska’s Kodiak Island early on Tuesday, prompting a tsunami warning for a large swath of the state’s coast.

Officials at the National Tsunami Center canceled the warning after a few tense hours after waves failed to show up in coastal Alaska communities. No serious damage had been reported.

The strong earthquake hit at 12.30am and was recorded about 170 miles south-east of Kodiak Island in the Gulf of Alaska. Kodiak Island is about 200 miles south-west of Anchorage, Alaska’s largest city, which was not under a tsunami threat.

Initially, the USGS said the earthquake was a magnitude 8.2. That prompted the tsunami warning for coastal Alaska and Canada’s British Columbia, while the remainder of the US west coast was under a watch.

An advisory remained in effect for a small part of the state. Watches were canceled for Washington, Oregon, California and Hawaii. Officials in Japan also said there was no tsunami threat there.

Warnings from the National Weather Service sent to cellphones in Alaska warned: “Emergency Alert. Tsunami danger on the coast. Go to high ground or move inland.”

Kodiak officials warned residents to evacuate if they lived in low-lying areas. Residents scrambled to safety, and some sought refuge in schools that were transformed into shelters.

The city of Kodiak was projected to see the first wave about an hour after the quake, but 90 minutes after the quake, there was no report of any waves. However, officials told people to hold fast at evacuation centers until further notice. Lt Tim Putney of the Kodiak police department said the town has several shelters above the 100ft mark.

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The earthquake woke Putney out of a dead sleep, and he estimates it shook for at least 30 seconds.

“I’ve been on Kodiak for 19 years that was the strongest, longest-lasting one I’ve ever felt,” he said by telephone.

Alaska’s governor, Bill Walker, said on his Twitter feed he had been in contact with local officials and the state’s adjutant general, and urged residents to heed any warnings to move inland or to higher ground.

The Alaska Earthquake Information Center said the quake was felt widely in several communities on the Kenai Peninsula and throughout southern Alaska. People reported on social media that the quake was felt in Anchorage.

Kerry Seifert, an emergency management specialist in the state emergency operations center, said the center had not received any reports of damage as the timeline for initial waves reaching some communities had passed.

“This is almost too soon to be into it to get that kind of information,” he said. “And certainly, communities are climbing hills, some of them.”