Major earthquake hits south Alaska, tremors felt in Anchorage

(Reuters) — A major earthquake hit southern Alaska early on Sunday (January 24), the U.S. Geological Survey said, setting off tremors felt more than 170 miles (280 km) away in the state’s biggest city Anchorage.

“When it really hit I realized we got an earthquake going on. So it took me about 20 second to figure out maybe I need to get under a door frame because it was shaking really good. The lights were really – just all over the place and it lasted a little bit,” said one employee at a store in Anchorage.

The magnitude 7.3 quake struck 30 miles east-southeast of Pedro Bay, on the shore of Iliamna Lake, the USGS added. It was recorded at a depth of 124.8 km at 1030 GMT (0530 ET).

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said it was not anticipating a destructive tsunami and that there was no threat to Hawaii from the quake.