Wednesday’s magnitude 7.3 earthquake off Alaska's Aleutian Islands chain struck in a region that has experienced a handful of powerful quakes within the last five years — including one that shook communities almost exactly two years earlier.
Officials said Thursday they had received no reports of injuries or major damage from the latest event, which triggered a tsunami warning that lasted about an hour before being downgraded and prompted communities along a 700-mile (1,127-km) stretch of Alaska’s southern coast to urge people to move to higher ground. The official maximum wave height at Sand Point, a community 55 miles (88 kilometers) north of the epicenter, was about 3.9 inches (10 centimeters), said Kara Sterling, a lead duty scientist at the National Tsunami Warning Center. It occurred at low tide.
