Tsunami advisory canceled after 7.3 magnitude earthquake off Alaska
A tsunami advisory for Alaska's southern peninsula has been canceled, after a major earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.3 initially prompted a tsunami warning earlier Wednesday.
showed people in the town of Seward evacuating to higher ground after receiving a tsunami warning in the afternoon. The alert followed the earthquake that struck about 50 miles south of Sand Point, Alaska, at around 12:38 p.m. local time, according to the National Weather Service.
Multiple aftershocks were reported near Sand Point, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The said it was evacuating personnel at its base in Kodiak to higher ground, but later stood down the response after the threat passed.
Authorities initially issued a tsunami warning and later downgraded it to an advisory, which warns people to stay out of the water and away from beaches and waterways.
Dave Snider, a tsunami warning coordinator at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told CBS affiliate that large, widespread waves weren't expected.
"The good news is this event happened in shallow water," Snider told KTUU. "We're not expecting to see a large inundation of water coming up on shore."
The depth of the earthquake was approximately 12 miles, according to NOAA.
The impacted areas spanned the Kennedy Entrance, a channel that connects the Gulf of Alaska to Cook Inlet, to Unimak Pass, which is just to the west of Unimak Island at the end of the peninsula. They may see small sea level changes, said.
There was no danger to Anchorage, the state's most populous city.
The quake was felt throughout the Alaska Peninsula and southern Alaska, the Alaska Earthquake Center said.
Earlier in the day, a magnitude 5.2 earthquake also struck the region. It was located approximately 40 miles southeast of Atka Island, the earthquake center said.
Alaska's southern coast is situated along the seismically active Pacific "Ring of Fire." The strongest earthquake ever recorded in North America occurred there in March 1964, when a 9.2-magnitude earthquake devastated Anchorage and unleashed a tsunami that killed more than 250 people.
