Tsunami advisory issued in parts of Alaska after 7.3-magnitude earthquake

A stretch of Alaska’s southern coast was under a tsunami advisory on Wednesday after a strong earthquake was felt throughout the region.

The US Geological Survey described the earthquake as a magnitude 7.3. After the quake, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a tsunami warning, which it later downgraded to an advisory.

The US Tsunami Center said the advisory was in effect from about 40 miles (64.4km) south-west of Homer to Unimak Pass, a distance of about 700 miles (1,126.5km). The area is sparsely populated – among the larger communities in the area is Kodiak, which is home to 5,200 people.

Meanwhile, officials in the Pacific north-west were evaluating whether there was any threat to coastlines there.

The first waves were projected to hit the village of Sand Point, a community of about 580 people on Popof Island, in the Aleutian chain. The first waves were projected to land there, but the state’s emergency management division said an hour after the quake that it had received no reports of damage.

“We have seen other earthquakes in the area that have not generated significant tsunami waves, but we’re treating it seriously and going through our procedures, making sure communities are notified so they can activate their evacuation procedures,” spokesperson Jeremy Zidek said.

In Unalaska, a fishing community of about 4,100 people, officials also urged people to move at least 50ft above sea level, one mile (1.6km) inland. In King Cove, which has about 870 residents on the south side of the Alaska Peninsula, officials sent an alert calling on those in the coastal area to move to higher ground.

In a social media post, the Kodiak police department urged residents to utilize emergency shelters in the local elementary and high school “if you need to evacuate from the inundation zone”, the Anchorage Daily News reported.

In a social media post, Washington Emergency Management wrote that “there is NO DANGER for Washington state from this earthquake in Alaska” after analyzing data from Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis (Dart) buoys. Oahu Emergency Management added in a similar post that their is no threat to Hawaii either.

Although Anchorage residents may have received an emergency alert, there is no threat to Alaska’s largest city, Anchorage Emergency Management wrote on social media.