Residents scrambled to higher ground or to evacuate coastal towns late Wednesday and early Thursday after a massive earthquake struck off Alaska’s coast, triggering aftershocks and now-canceled tsunami warnings.

Pat Branson, mayor of Kodiak, the major city of Alaska’s Kodiak Island, told CNN the magnitude 8.2 earthquake was the strongest in the area since the 1960’s. The quake triggered the area’s third evacuation in 18 months.

If the magnitude 8.2 estimate holds, the quake may be the most powerful in North America since a magnitude 8.7 earthquake in Alaska, Brian McNoldy, senior research associate at University of Miami’s Department of Atmospheric Science, said on Twitter.

Wednesday’s quake hit 56 miles east southeast of Perryville, Alaska, at about 8:15 p.m, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The earthquake was felt throughout the Alaska Peninsula and Kodiak, the Alaska Earthquake Center said.

At least two strong aftershocks with preliminary magnitudes of 6.2 and 5.6 occurred within a half hour of the first quake, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Based on preliminary seismic data, the earthquake may have caused light to moderate damage and probable moderate shaking.

The U.S. National Tsunami Warning Center early Thursday canceled a tsunami warning issued for parts of the state.

“Remember, strong and unusual currents may continue for several hours,” a tweet from the center said. “If you have damage, please report it to your local officials.”

The tsunami warning was canceled after waves of less than one foot arrived onshore, The Anchorage Daily News reported.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center previously issued a notice saying the potential threat to Guam and American Samoa was still under investigation. The U.S. National Tsunami Warning Center later alerted that no significant tsunami is expected and California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia and Alaska are “all clear.” A tsunami warning issued for Hawaii was also canceled.

Kodiak police advised residents to move to higher ground following the earthquake and added the local high school was open as an evacuation location.

People took to social media to share videos of themselves evacuating homes and moving to higher ground amid blaring warning sirens.

In Sand Point, Alaska, Patrick Mayer, superintendent of schools for the Aleutians East Borough, told the Anchorage Daily News he was sitting in his kitchen when the shaking started.

“It started to go and just didn’t stop,” he told the newspaper. “It went on for a long time and there were several aftershocks, too. The pantry is empty all over the floor, the fridge is empty all over the floor.”

Mayer said he evacuated to the local school, which was located on higher ground.

Jeremy Zidek, a spokesman for the Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, told the newspaper he expects any damage from the earthquake may be revealed later in the morning.

The Anchorage Daily News reported that the earthquake was the third major quake in the area in 13 months.

Alaska is located along the seismically active Pacific Ring of Fire, which is a horseshoe-shaped geological disaster zone and hotbed for tectonic and volcanic activity.

The state was previously hit by the strongest earthquake ever recorded in North America: the 9.2-magnitude Good Friday earthquake in 1964 that led to 131 deaths and $2.3 billion in property loss, according to the USGS.

Contributing: The Associated Press.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Alaska earthquake: Tsunami warning lifted after 8.2 magnitude quake

Source: https://news.yahoo.com/alaska-earthquake-may-most-powerful-123242517.html

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The post Magnitude 7.4 earthquake strikes off eastern coast of Russia first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

A little more than a month after a 7.5 earthquake struck Papua New Guinea, a 6.9 magnitude tremor occurred near the coast and triggered a tsunami warning earlier today.

Papua New Guinea’s location within the Pacific Ring of Fire, a horseshoe-shaped string of volcanoes along the edges of the Pacific Ocean, makes seismic activity common.

According to National Geographic, 90 percent of all earthquakes occur in the Ring of Fire and 75 percent of the world’s active volcanoes are located in that region.

Although no damage was reported, resort goers near where the quake struck felt the shaking and ran out of buildings in fear of collapse.

“We felt the earthquake, everything was moving so we went out of the building,” May Dovon, a receptionist at the Rapopo Plantation Resort told The Guardian. “Nothing was damaged.”

The earthquake struck around 100 miles southwest of the town of Rabaul on New Britain Island.

According to the Guardian, the area where the quake was felt was much remote than where the earlier 7.5 quake struck.

The latest earthquake triggered a tsunami warning that was issued by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center which went out to all coastlines located within 200 miles of the epicenter of the earthquake.

The tsunami warning was later called off, but while no damage has been reported for this quake the country is still recovering from the earlier quake.

The February earthquake caused major landslides, damaged water supplies and killed 100 people.

Source: https://www.earth.com/news/earthquake-papua-new-guinea/

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The post Magnitude-7.5 Earthquake Slams South, Central Mexico first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

The earthquake was first measured as a 7.5-magnitude and later lowered to having a 7.2-magnitude by the U.S. Geological Survey. The epicenter was found along the Pacific coast near Santiago Ixtayutla, a town in the state of Oaxaca in the southwestern area of the country.

There is no tsunami threat from the quake, according to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. 

Videos on social media show people in the streets grabbing onto a car as the ground started shaking. Footage inside a building show lights swaying back and forth with people lined up along a hallway.

It’s unclear if any damage or injuries were reported.

Mexico is no stranger to earthquakes. The country dealt with two back-to-back quakes in September that left hundreds dead after buildings crumbled, including schools.

More than 90 people died after the first earthquake on Sept. 7, then days later on Sept. 19, another disaster struck in Central Mexico. Several hundred were left dead.

The second tragedy landed on the 32nd anniversary of the 1985 earthquake in Mexico City, which left an estimated 9,500 people dead.

Check back for updates on this breaking news story.

Source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2018/02/16/mexico-struck-massive-7-5-magnitude-earthquake/347281002/

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