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The authorities issued tsunami warning for South Alaska and the Alaska peninsula after 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast.
Alaska gets tsunami warning (AI Generated)
An earthquake of 7.3 magnitude on the Richter scale struck off the coast of the US state of Alaska on Wednesday (local time), prompting the authorities to issue a tsunami warning, the United States Geological Survey said.
The earthquake occurred at around 12.37 local time (2037GMT) and its epicenter was located at 87 kilometers south of the island town of Sand Point, USGS said.
The depth of the epicenter was 20.1 kilometers.
The authorities have issued a tsunami warning for South Alaska and the Alaska Peninsula after the massive earthquake, news agency AFP reported.
“A tsunami has been confirmed and some impacts are expected,” said the National Tsunami Warning Center in Palmer, Alaska.
The warning was put out for “South Alaska And the Alaska Peninsula, Pacific coasts from Kennedy Entrance, Alaska (40 miles SW of Homer) to Unimak Pass, Alaska (80 miles NE of Unalaska),” it added.
The US Tsunami Warning Center issued a warning for a large part of Alaska’s coastline — from about 40 miles southwest of Homer to Unimak Pass, covering nearly 700 miles. This included several coastal towns like Kodiak, an important local center with around 5,200 people.
One of the first places expected to be hit was Sand Point, a small village of about 580 people on Popof Island in the Aleutian Islands. Local officials quickly warned residents and told them to move to higher ground.
Alaska has more earthquakes than any other US state and experiences nearly 11% of all earthquakes in the world, and 17.5% of those in the United States. This is due to its position on the Pacific Ring of Fire, where the Pacific Plate slides under the North American Plate along a huge fault line called the Alaska-Aleutian Megathrust, which stretches over 2,500 miles.
In March 1964, a devastating 9.2-magnitude earthquake struck the state, which was the strongest ever recorded in North America. The city of Anchorage was badly damaged in the quakes, which also caused a tsunami that hit the Gulf of Alaska, the US West Coast, and Hawaii.
Over 250 people had died in the disaster.
A strong earthquake of magnitude 7.2 also struck in July 2023 near the Alaska Peninsula; however, no serious damage was recorded.
(With AFP inputs)
Ashesh Mallick is a Sub-Editor with over three years of experience in news writing, video production. He primarily covers national news, politics and global affairs. You can follow him on Twitter: @MallickAshes…Read More
Ashesh Mallick is a Sub-Editor with over three years of experience in news writing, video production. He primarily covers national news, politics and global affairs. You can follow him on Twitter: @MallickAshes… Read More
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