A powerful earthquake struck southwest Alaska on Wednesday, pushing the authorities to trigger a tsunami alert over 1,100 kilometers of ribs before lifting it two hours later. The earthquake, of magnitude 7.3, occurred at sea, 87 km south of the village of Sand Point, according to the American Institute of Geophysics (USGS).
Several localities of the Alaska peninsula, a region which is not very densely populated and exposed to seismic risks, immediately activated their alarm sirens. The inhabitants were invited to win the heights or to take shelter inside the land. In Unalaska, local authorities have finally announced that residents could return home once the risk has been discarded.
A strongly seismic territory
Same story in Kodiak, a port city of 5,200 inhabitants, where the emergency operations center officially ended the alert two hours later. No major or injured damage was reported. “The risk of victims and damage is low,” confirmed the USGS, while specifying that if the majority of homes in the area are resistant to tremors, some older structures can remain vulnerable.
Our articles on earthquakes
Located on the Pacific belt of fire, Alaska is one of the most active territories in the world. The most violent earthquake in its history, in 1964, had reached a magnitude of 9.2 and caused the death of more than 130 people, especially in Anchorage, while generating a devastating tsunami to Hawaii and the west coast of the United States. More recently, in July 2023, an earthquake of magnitude 7.2 had already touched the same region without making any victims.