A magnitude 7.5 earthquake occurred just before 1:00 p.m. 55 miles southeast of Sand Point. It triggered a Tsunami Warning including the coastal areas of the state from Kennedy Entrance, which is 40 miles southwest of Homer, to Unimak Pass, which is located 80 miles Northeast of Unalaska. That warning has since been cancelled, having been downgraded to a Tsunami Advisory.
Sirens wailed in the area as the warning was originally issued. About an hour after the Tsunami Warning was issued, the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District used Twitter to communicate that Homer area schools were remaining open and that children were safe.
Not long after that, around 2:30 p.m., Dan Nelson of the Kenai Peninsula Office of Emergency Management told KSRM News that the threat had ended: “Currently, the Tsunami Warning Center has advised us that there is no longer a tsunami threat – the tsunami threat from the earthquake has passed. So we had an earthquake this afternoon at 1:00 p.m. near Sand Point. We had Kodiak and areas along the Aleutian Chain under a Tsunami Warning, as well as the southern Kenai Peninsula, Homer, Kachemak Bay. The Tsunami Warning Center has advised us that the warning has been cancelled, and right now we’re advising anyone that left low-lying ground in the south Peninsula areas that they can return to their normal areas.”
The Anchorage Daily News reported that Monday’s 7.5 earthquake was an aftershock from a 7.8 quake that hit the area in July, and that more aftershocks can be expected.
