No tsunami risk in B.C. after big quake off Alaska coast
The danger of a tsunami has now passed for parts of Alaska after a magnitude-7.5 earthquake struck off the coast Monday afternoon, and officials say there's no risk in B.C.
Parts of southern Alaska and the Alaska Peninsula were covered by a warning from U.S. government officials shortly after 2 p.m. PT on Monday, but by 3:15 p.m. there was no longer any danger.
By 4:15 p.m. PT, emergency officials in B.C. had confirmed there was no risk to Canada's West Coast, either.
U.S. officials had originally warned of the possibility of hazardous tsunami waves within 300 kilometres of the quake's epicentre, and people living in that region were advised to move inland or to higher ground.
Preliminary information suggests that the event was a strike-slip earthquake that hit at an estimated depth of 40 kilometres. The nearest community to the epicentre is Sand Point, Alaska, a small town with fewer than 1,000 residents located about 92 kilometres to the northwest.
The Alaska Earthquake Center said the quake was widely felt in communities along the southern coast, including Sand Point, Chignik, Unalaska and the Kenai Peninsula. It said a magnitude 5.2 aftershock was reported 11 minutes later, centred roughly in the same area.
