Earthquake off the Alaska coast triggers brief tsunami advisory, sending some residents to shelters | AP News

A 7.2 magnitude earthquake triggered a brief tsunami advisory for southern Alaska late Saturday, but the advisory was canceled about an hour later, monitoring bodies reported.

The earthquake was felt widely throughout the Aleutian Islands, the Alaskan Peninsula and Cook Inlet regions, according to the Alaska Earthquake Center.

In Kodiak, Alaska, sirens warned of a possible tsunami and sent people driving to shelters late at night, according to video posted to social media.

Other news

AP gets a rare look at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant as it prepares to release radioactive water

At Japan’s tsunami-wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, giant blue pipes have been constructed to bring in torrents of seawater to dilute radioactive water under a plan to discharge the treated but radioactive wastewater into the sea.

Japan defends neutrality of IAEA report on Fukushima water release plan as minister visits plant

Japan’s industry minister has visited the tsunami-wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant to see equipment that is to be used to release treated radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean to ensure the safety of the contentious plan.

UN nuclear agency chief says he’s satisfied with Japan’s plans to release Fukushima wastewater

The head of the U.N. atomic agency has toured Japan’s tsunami-wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant and said he is satisfied with still-contentious plans to release treated radioactive wastewater into the Pacific Ocean.

South Korea experts say Japan carefully answered questions on plan to release radioactive water

The head of a South Korean team of experts said Wednesday they saw all of the facilities they had requested to visit at Japan’s tsunami-wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant and Japanese officials had carefully answered their questions about a contentious plan to release treated but still slightly radioac

The United States Geological Survey wrote in a social media post that the earthquake occurred 106 kilometers (65.8 miles) south of Sand Point, Alaska, at 10:48 p.m. Saturday. The quake initially was reported as 7.4 magnitude but downgraded to 7.2 soon after.

The U.S. National Weather Service sent a tsunami advisory saying the quake occurred at a depth of 13 miles (21 kilometers). The agency cancelled the advisory about an hour after the first alert.

Before the cancellation, the National Weather Service in Anchorage, Alaska, tweeted that the tsunami advisory applied to coastal Alaska from Chignik Bay to Unimak Pass, but Kodiak Island and the Kenai Peninsula were not expected to be impacted.

The Hawaii Emergency Management Agency said shortly after the tsunami warning went out that there was no threat to the islands.

There were an estimated eight aftershocks in the same area of Alaska, including one measuring 5.0 magnitude within three minutes of the original earthquake, KTUU-TV reported.

Residents were advised not to reoccupy hazard zones without clearance from local emergency officials, KTUU reported.

Small sea level changes were still possible, KTUU reported.

Alaska experiences thousands of earthquakes each year, most of which are too deep and too small to be felt. It is the U.S.’s most seismically active state and location of the second-largest earthquake ever recorded, according to the Alaska Earthquake Center. In 1964, a magnitude 9.2 earthquake in Prince William Sound caused extensive damage throughout south-central Alaska.

The temblor late Saturday occurred in the same region as several other earthquakes over 7 magnitude in the past few years, The Center said via Twitter.

“The once quiet “Shumagin Gap” isn’t so quiet anymore!” the tweet said.