US Weather: Tsunami warning issued after a 7.4 magnitude earthquake in Alaska Peninsula

A tsunami warning has been issued for the United States after an earthquake hit the Alaska Peninsula region. The United States Warning System has put out a red alert for regions in the Pacific that are located close by following the huge quake.

The system issued the threat following a 7.4 magnitude, which struck off the coast of Alaska in the early hours of Sunday morning. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) called the event a “notable quake” that was at the depth of 9.3km (5.78 miles) and was relatively shallow.

The USGS said that little or no landsliding is expected, but some may have potentially occurred in any areas that were highly susceptible. The Alaskan Earthquake Centre noted that the quake was felt widely across the Aleutian Islands, which is an area furthest from the mainland.

The Alaskan Peninsula extends around 550 miles into the Pacific Ocean and earthquakes are relatively common in the area. The earthquake has since been downgraded to an advisory warning but the Alaska Volcano Observatory has said: “The explosive eruption of Shishaldin Volcano is continuing. A continuous ash plume now extends over 80 mi (125 km) to the SSE from the volcano with an altitude of about 16,000 ft (4.9 km).

“Seismicity has remained elevated for over 6 hours at Shishaldin and frequent explosion signals are being detected at regional infrasound (pressure sensor) networks. Some explosions are sending ash plumes as high as 20,000.

“Due to the duration of this current activity and the extent of the distributing ash cloud the Aviation Color Code is being raised to RED and the Volcano Alert Level is being raised to WARNING for Shishaldin.”