7.2 temblor strikes Alaska s Aleutian Islands; no reports of damages or injuries

12/19/2007

ANCHORAGE, Alaska A large earthquake rattled Alaska s seismically active Aleutian Islands, but there were no immediate reports of any damages or injuries.

The magnitude-7.2 quake struck at 11:30 p.m. Tuesday and was centered about 125 miles west of Adak in the island chain, according to a preliminary report by the U.S. Geological Survey.

A dispatcher with the Anchorage Police Department said he didn t feel the quake, some 1,300 miles away, and there were no reports of any injuries or damages.

The Aleutian Islands are a chain of more than 300 islands that extend southwestward from Alaska into the northern Pacific Ocean.

A tsunami warning was canceled early Wednesday for Alaska s coasts after officials determined waves from the earthquake posed no widespread destructive threat.

The earth s most active seismic feature, the circum-Pacific seismic belt, brushes Alaska and the Aleutian Islands, where more earthquakes occur than in the other 49 States combined.

The Andreanof Island sustained a magnitude 8.8 earthquake in March 1957 that caused very severe damage on Adak and Unimak Islands. A damaging tsunami was generated, and a wall of water 40 feet high smashed the coastline of Scotch Cap on Unimak Island. Sand Bay, near Adak, reported 26-foot waves inundated its shores.

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