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Magnitude 7.7 quake strikes off Alaska

Updated January 06, 2013 14:50:33

A major magnitude 7.7 earthquake shook an area in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of the US state of Alaska early on Saturday.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said a local and possibly destructive tsunami had been generated by the quake but this warning was since cancelled.

The epicentre of the quake was located 102 kilometres west of Craig, Alaska at a depth of nine kilometres, according to the United States Geological Survey.

There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

Homes were shaken in Alaska's state capital of Juneau some 330 kilometres away, The Juneau Empire newspaper reported.

But there was apparently no major damage to the city, the largest in the area.

Juneau resident Archie Hinman told the Empire the quake "shook my Juneau home violently enough to awaken the entire family. No apparent damage."

A similar magnitude 7.7 earthquake hit Canada's Queen Charlotte Islands, located just south of the current epicentre, last October. That quake did trigger a small Pacific tsunami which eventually reached the US state of Hawaii without causing any damage.


Topics: earthquake, disasters-and-accidents, united-states

First posted January 05, 2013 20:45:39