Updated 12:30 a.m.
The Kodiak Police Department sounded the all clear at 12:30 a.m., after a tsunami warning was initially issued by NOAA’s Tsunami Warning Center for communities across the Aleutian Chain, including Kodiak Island, shortly before 11 p.m. Saturday evening. The warning was later downgraded to an advisory. Seismologists initially said the main quake was a 7.3 shake, it was later downgraded to a 7.2 magnitude earthquake.
As of 12:45 a.m., a tsunami advisory was still in effect for parts of the Aleutian Chain, including Chignik and Sandpoint.
Updated 12:15 a.m.
Kodiak Island and Alaska Peninsula communities are under a tsunami advisory. Three earthquakes struck about 60 miles southwest of Sand Point shortly before 11 p.m. on Saturday.
“The main shock is a magnitude 7.3, it may be showing as a 7.4 also,” said Randy Baldwin, a seismologist with the U.S. Geological Survey.
Baldwin said residents along the Aleutian Chain should prepare for aftershocks. He said the agency received reports from residents in Sand Point, Clark’s Point, Cold Bay and King Cove who felt shaking during the initial quake and aftershocks.
A tsunami warning was initially issued by NOAA’s Tsunami Warning Center with waves expected to hit Sand Point and Kodiak shortly after midnight, but was later downgraded to an advisory.
The Kodiak Police Department is asking residents to get to higher ground and stay there until they give the all clear.
People living in the City of Kodiak evacuate to the Kodiak High School for people who live fewer than 100 feet above sea level.
Women’s Bay Area and Bell’s Flats residents should evacuate to high ground behind Bell’s Flats such as near the Women’s Bay Fire Hall.
U.S. Coast Guard Base personnel should follow the base’s evacuation routes.
Monashka Bay and Bayside Fire District residents should evacuate to the North Star Elementary School building.
Villages should evacuate to their respective school buildings. Locations include:
- Chiniak School or Chiniak Tsunami Shelter
- Karluk Community Building
- Larsen Bay Tsunami Shelter
- Old Harbor Clinic
- Ouzinkie Tsunami Shelter
- Port Lions School.
This is a developing story.