ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A tsunami warning was in effect Friday morning for parts of the Aleutian Islands after a 7.1-magnitude earthquake was recorded in the Pacific Ocean.
The earthquake struck at about 6:55 a.m. EDT, and there were no initial reports of injuries or damage, according to the United States Geological Survey.
The tsunami warning was in effect for coastal areas of Alaska from Unimak Pass to Amchitka Pass. The areas are very remote and not heavily populated, according to Jessica Sigala, geophysicist with the USGS in Golden, Colo.
No more details were immediately available.
A woman who answered the phone at the city hall in Unalaska but declined to give her name said people at Dutch Harbor were awakened by sirens.
"We have some people on high ground, but not a lot," she said. "Sirens woke us all up — everybody's moving."
The state emergency response center was being staffed early Friday morning.
In June, an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.2 in the same area of the Aleutians also prompted a tsunami warning.