Earthquake rattles Alaska's Aleutian islands

Earthquake rattles Alaska's Aleutian islands
REUTERS

ANCHORAGE, ALASKA, FEB 2: An earthquake shook the sparsely populated central Aleutian Islands on Thursday morning, causing no reported damage but jolting residents there, officials said.

The 5.8 Richter magnitude earthquake occurred at 9:20 AM Alaska time (1:20 P.M. EST) and was centered about 45 miles (72 km) southwest of Adak, an island 1,200 miles (1,920 km) southwest of Anchorage, reported the Alaska Tsunami Warning Center in Palmer, Alaska.

The quake was felt in Adak, site of a former US Navystation that now houses about 100 people, and in Atka, an Aleut village on a nearby island with fewer than 100 people, a Tsunami Center official said.

``Both places felt it sharply,'' said Paul Whitmore, a center seismologist.

Such earthquakes are fairly common in that area, Whitmore said. ``We'll have several a year up around that magnitude in the central Aleutians,'' he said. ``But it's not something that happens every day,'' he added.