Powerful quake rattles Alaska's Aleutian Islands: USGS

0 Comments | AFP, December, 2007

WASHINGTON (AFP) — A powerful 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck Alaska's Aleutian islands on Wednesday and briefly sparked a tsunami warning in some Alaskan coastal areas which was later retracted, officials said.

The quake's epicenter was located 200 kilometers (124 miles) west of Adak and 2,098 kilometers west-southwest of Anchorage, and it hit at 0930 GMT, according to the United States Geological Survey.

It struck around 40 kilometers (25 miles) deep, and was followed by a 5.5 magnitude aftershock about one hour later.

The West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center cancelled a tsunami warning it issued shortly after the quake, saying that "no destructive tsunami has been recorded, and no tsunami danger exists along the coasts of the US west coast states,...