A
powerful earthquake sparked a tsunami warning for hundreds of miles of Alaskan
and Canadian coastline, but the alert was canceled when no damaging waves were
generated.
The
magnitude 7.5 quake did generate a tsunami, but the Alaska Tsunami Warning
Center said the waves didn't pose a threat.
The
temblor struck at midnight Friday (1 a.m. PST Saturday) and was centered about
60 miles west of Craig, Alaska, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
The
tsunami followed minutes later and was eventually expanded to include coastal
areas from Cape Fairweather, Alaska, to the northern tip of Vancouver Island,
Canada -- an area extending more than 700 miles.
A
center had warned that "significant widespread inundation of land is expected,"
adding that dangerous coastal flooding was possible.
In
its cancellation statement, the center said that some areas were seeing just
small sea level changes.
"A
tsunami was generated during this event but no longer poses a threat," the
center said.
After
one community reported seeing just a small wave, the police in the coastal town
of Cordova said they had no reports of any problems.
The
Alaska Earthquake Information Center said the quake was widely felt but it
received no reports of any damage.
In
addition to the warning, a tsunami advisory was briefly in effect for some
Alaska coastal areas to the north of the warning zone, as well as to the south
of the zone, from the Washington state border to the northern tip of Vancouver
Island.
