Major 7.1 quake hits Alaska; tsunami warning issued for Aleutians commercial, occurred, warning, several, island

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Major 7.1 quake hits Alaska; tsunami warning issued for Aleutians


A major 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck Alaska's Aleutian Islands early Friday, triggering a tsunami warning for the remote region, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.


The quake occurred at 1:55 am at a depth of 35 kilometres, about 130 kilometres from the town of Dutch Harbor, one of several spots in the Pacific island chain that host commercial fishing operations.


The epicenter was about 1,600 kilometres from the state's largest city Anchorage, USGS added.


The temblor triggered an alert by the West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center, which said a tsunami warning was in effect for parts of coastal Alaska, but that "a widespread destructive tsunami threat does not exist."


The Aleutian Islands sit on the Pacific Ring of Fire, a horseshoe-shaped seismic belt about 40,000 kilomeeers long where the majority of the world's earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur.



Alaska's Aleutian Islands