Tsunami warning canceled after 7.0 quake and aftershocks in Alaska
A tsunami warning for coastal areas of Alaska’s Cook Inlet and southern Kenai Peninsula was canceled after a magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck Friday, damaging roads and buildings and sending residents scurrying for cover, authorities said.
The quake near Anchorage hit about 8:30 a.m. local time and knocked CNN affiliate KTUU off the air. Items fell from shelves at the station, news director Tracy Sabo told CNN’s Sara Finch.
Social media images depicted scenes of chaos, including students taking shelter under desks while sending texts from their phones, roads that had been buckled, items tumbling from grocery store shelves, hospital workers scrambling for cover and shards of broken glass outside buildings.
Window glass crashed to the ground outside CNN affiliate KTVA’s offices.
Gov. Bill Walker issued a disaster declaration, according to a post on his Facebook page.
There were no reports of fatalities or injuries so far.
The Kenai Peninsula Borough School District said all district students were safe.
The US Geological Survey has reported at least eight aftershocks following the first quake. The largest, registering 5.7, was located in the city of Anchorage.
The Anchorage Office of Emergency Management urged residents to shelter in place.
“I could tell this was bigger than anything I’d been in before, and it wasn’t going to stop,” resident Philip Peterson said.
Peterson was in a multistory building in downtown Anchorage as the structure swayed and coffee mugs fells from tables and tiles from the ceiling.
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