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ANCHORAGE. – A 7.9 magnitude earthquake struck off Alaska’s Kodiak Island early yesterday, prompting a tsunami warning for a large swath of the state’s coast.

Officials at the National Tsunami Centre cancelled the warning after a few tense hours after waves failed to show up in coastal Alaska communities. No serious damage had been reported.

The strong earthquake hit at 00:30 and was recorded about 273km southeast of Kodiak Island in the Gulf of Alaska. Kodiak Island is located about 320km southwest of Anchorage, Alaska’s largest city, which was not under a tsunami threat.

Initially, the USGS said the earthquake was a magnitude 8.2. That prompted the tsunami warning for coastal Alaska and Canada’s British Columbia, while the remainder of the US West Coast was under a watch.

An advisory remained in effect for a small part of the state. Watches were cancelled for Washington, Oregon, California and Hawaii. Officials in Japan also said there was no tsunami threat there.

Warnings from the National Weather Service sent to cellphones in Alaska warned: “Emergency Alert. Tsunami danger on the coast. Go to high ground or move inland.”

Kodiak officials warned residents to evacuate if they lived in low-lying areas. Residents scrambled to safety, and some sought refuge in schools that were transformed into shelters.

The city of Kodiak was projected to see the first wave about an hour after the quake, but 90 minutes after the quake, there was no report of any waves.

Lt. Tim Putney of the Kodiak Police Department said: “We haven’t seen anything yet or had any reports of a wave.”

However, officials told people to hold fast at evacuation centres until further notice. He said the town has several shelters above the 30m mark, and they were still encouraging people below that level to evacuate.

Alaska Governor Bill Walker said on his Twitter feed that he had been in contact with local officials and the state’s adjutant general, and he urged residents to heed any warnings to move inland or to higher ground.

The Alaska Earthquake Information Centre said the quake was felt widely in several communities on the Kenai Peninsula and throughout southern Alaska, but it also had no immediate reports of damage. People reported on social media that the quake was felt hundreds of kilometres away, in Anchorage.

Kerry Seifert, an emergency management specialist in the state emergency operations centre, said the centre had not received any reports of damage as the timeline for initial waves reaching some communities had passed.

“This is almost too soon to be into it to get that kind of information,” he said. “And certainly, communities are climbing hills, some of them.” – AP