By MARK THIESSEN and BECKY BOHRER
The Associated Press
ANCHORAGE — A powerful earthquake struck off an island in the Gulf of Alaska early Tuesday, prompting a tsunami threat that sent people living along the state’s southern coast and western Canada fleeing for higher ground.
After a few intense hours, the tsunami warning was canceled, allowing people to return home from shelters. There were no immediate reports of damage, not even on Kodiak Island, the closest land to the epicenter of the magnitude 7.9 quake.
For Alaskans accustomed not only to tsunami threats but also to regular drills, the early morning alert that made cellphone alarms go off still created some fretful moments. The phone message read: “Emergency Alert. Tsunami danger on the coast. Go to high ground or move inland.”
Keith Perkins got the phone alert and later heard sirens going off in his southeast Alaska hometown of Sitka. He said people on Facebook were talking about whether the threat was real and what they should do.
Given the magnitude of the earthquake, Perkins said, he thought it best to head to the high school, a tsunami evacuation point, even though in the past he felt his home was at a “high-enough spot.”
“I figured I’d probably just better play it safe,” he said.
The magnitude 7.9 earthquake was recorded in the Pacific Ocean at 12:32 a.m. about 170 miles southeast of Kodiak, home to one of the nation’s largest Coast Guard bases.
The temblor prompted the tsunami warning stretching thousands of miles along Alaska’s southern coast, from Attu in the Aleutian Islands to Canada’s border with Washington state. Kodiak is about 200 miles (321 kilometers) south of Anchorage, the state’s largest city, which was not under a tsunami threat.
Elsewhere in the United States, Washington state, Oregon, California and Hawaii were under tsunami watches, which eventually were lifted. Officials in Japan say there was no tsunami threat there.
People reported on social media that the quake was felt hundreds of miles away, in Anchorage. Reports varied about how long the quake’s shaking lasted, depending on location.
In the popular cruise ship town of Seward, about 110 miles (177 kilometers) south of Anchorage, Fire Chief Eddie Athey said the quake felt like a gentle rattle that lasted for up to 90 seconds.
“It went on long enough that you start thinking to yourself, ‘Boy, I hope this stops soon because it’s just getting worse,'” Athey said.
The earthquake woke Kodiak Police Lt. Tim Putney from a dead sleep. He said it shook for at least 30 seconds but admits his estimate might be skewed by sleeping through some of it.
“I’ve been in Kodiak for 19 years that was the strongest, longest-lasting one I’ve ever felt,” he said by telephone.
Putney said there were no immediate reports of damage reported to Kodiak police. The state emergency management agency also had no immediate reports of damage. The Alaska Earthquake Information Center categorized the shaking intensity as light.
John Bellini, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Earthquake Information Center, said there had been more than two dozen aftershocks as of about 6:30 a.m. The biggest aftershock had a magnitude of 5.3.
The earthquake was initially reported as magnitude 8.2, but Bellini said as more data comes in, better calculations can be made. Earthquake waves take time to spread.
Kodiak was projected to get the first tsunami wave, and officials warned residents to evacuate if they lived in low-lying areas. Some people sought refuge in schools. The wave never materialized there or in other coastal communities like Homer and Seward, and the warning was soon canceled.
Larry LeDoux, superintendent of the Kodiak Island Borough School District, said schools were open as shelters and estimated there were about 500 people at the high school. He described the atmosphere inside as calm, with people waiting for updates.
He said sirens go off in the community every week as a test to make sure they are working.
In Seward, at the southern end of Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula, residents retreated to higher ground or left on the only road out of the city, the fire chief said. He described it as a controlled evacuation and compared it to people driving home from a holiday fireworks show.
Cordova Police Department shared the tsunami warning on Facebook advising to move to higher ground, specifically Main Street and above. Mt. Eccles Elementary School opened as a shelter, and The Little Chapel and Cordova Baptist Church also opened for shelter. Several people also made their way up Ski Hill Road for safety.
The tsunami alert was cancelled by the tsunami.gov website and City of Cordova EOC reported it was clear to return to homes at this point about 3:30 a.m.
Cordova School District and Children’s Pallas delayed start times to 11 a.m. Tuesday.
The original tsunami warning read:
“A tsunami Warning is now in effect which includes the coastal areas of British Columbia and Alaska from The Wash./BC Border to Attu, Alaska. – Event details: Preliminary magnitude 8.0 (Mwp) earthquake / Lat: 55.955, Lon: -149.227 at 2018-01-23T09:31:41 UTC Tsunami warnings mean that a tsunami with significant inundation is expected or occurring. Warnings indicate that widespread dangerous coastal flooding accompanied by powerful currents are possible and may continue for several hours after the initial wave arrival.”
The National Tsunami Warning Center advises if you are in a tsunami warning area to evacuate inland or to higher ground above and beyond designated tsunami hazard zones or move to an upper floor of a multi-story building depending on your situation.
The entire tsunami warning message can be found here.
Updates can be found at tsunami.gov.
Monitor Alaska earthquakes here at the Alaska Earthquake Center.
Tips from Ready.gov for ways to stay safe:
Stay away from the beach.
Tsunamis can travel hundreds of miles per hour, so you can’t escape if you’re close enough to see one.
If you’re on the beach and the tide suddenly goes out, head inland immediately.
A tsunami is coming and you may only have minutes to escape.
If instructed to evacuate, leave immediately with your family and pets.
Even a short delay to pack possessions could put you in danger.
Move to higher ground.
Find a place that’s at least 100 ft (30 m) above sea level or 2 mi (3 km) inland.
Help children, seniors, and people with disabilities reach safety.
They may not be able to do so on their own.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
The Cordova Times staff contributed to this report.
