Additional Coverage:
Sand Point, Alaska – A significant 7.3 magnitude earthquake rattled the Alaskan Peninsula Wednesday afternoon, triggering a tsunami warning that has since been downgraded to an advisory. The quake’s epicenter was located approximately 54 miles south of Sand Point, a community situated on Popof Island, roughly 600 miles southwest of Anchorage.
The tsunami advisory encompasses a wide swath of Alaska’s Pacific Coast, from the southern reaches of the Alaska Peninsula to Kennedy Entrance and Unimak Pass. Coastal communities within the advisory zone include Sand Point, Cold Bay, and Kodiak.
While Kodiak residents heeded the warning sirens by evacuating to higher ground, no damage has been reported. In Cold Bay, resident Michael Ashley described the quake as “not very intense.” Despite the tsunami advisory, Cold Bay residents remained calm, citing the town’s elevation well above sea level and the frequency of such seismic activity during the summer months.