A tsunami warning was issued Sunday in several areas of the US state of Alaska after a magnitude 7.2 earthquake, announced the American Geological Institute (USGS). The earthquake occurred at a depth of 21 kilometers on the Alaska Peninsula at 06:48 GMT.
A tsunami warning was issued Sunday in several areas of the US state of Alaska after a magnitude 7.2 earthquake, announced the US Geological Institute (USGS). The earthquake occurred at 06:48 GMT about 90 kilometers southwest of the town of Sand Point. The National Tsunami Warning Center in Palmer, Alaska, said the tsunami warning was for southern Alaska and the Alaska Peninsula.
Devastating earthquake in March 1964
“As for the US and Canadian coasts in the Pacific, the danger level for a tsunami is being assessed,” he added. Alaska is part of the seismically active Pacific Ring of Fire.
It had been struck by a magnitude 9.2 earthquake in March 1964, the most powerful ever recorded in North America. This earthquake devastated the city of Anchorage and triggered a tsunami that hit the Gulf of Alaska, the west coast of the United States and Hawaii. More than 250 people had been killed by the earthquake and tsunami.