A 7.2-magnitude earthquake centered 55 miles south of the eastern Aleutian Islands community of Sand Point, Alaska triggered a tsunami warning for wide swaths of the North Star State’s southern Pacific coast late Saturday, later downgraded to advisory, then canceled altogether after communities on Kodiak Island and other areas observed a six-inch tsunami, KTUU reports.
It’s not clear how officials and scientists were able to tell the “tsunami” apart from just a regular wave. Maybe it moves faster. Also puzzling is why the alert system can’t immediately tell if the quake is the type that actually displaces water and triggers a tsunami – as opposed to a deeper hypocenter that does little to no seabed disruption like this one. No major damage or injuries were reported from the quake itself, however Alaskans in vulnerable areas spent a tense hour or two on edge as tsunami alert sirens sounded off immediately after the initial 10:48 PM AKDT shock.