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June 23 2014
"We're seeing water leave our bay, so we do have everybody up on the Bering Hill area, where our primary evacuation center is at," City Manager Layton Lockett told The Associated Press by telephone as he gathered some last paperwork before heading out himself to join about 300 residents at the center.
About 200 miles west, a tsunami wave of about 7 inches was reported at Amchitka Island, said Jeremy Zidek, a spokesman for the Alaska Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.
There were no immediate reports of damage, he said, as authorities with the state emergency system began notifying the coastal communities affected by the tsunami warning or the tsunami advisory that was issued for coastlines further from the earthquake's epicenter.
Natasha Ruppert, a seismologist with the Alaska Earthquake Center, said that because the communities that would have suffered damage are under a tsunami warning, people may not have been able to get out and check for damage yet.
The earthquake was widely felt in Adak, one of the largest cities in the affected area about 1,300 miles southwest of Anchorage. Shaking could also be felt in Shemya and other villages along the sparsely populated Aleutian Islands.
Shemya Island is where the U.S. military operates Eareckson Air Station, which serves mainly as an early warning radar installation. Read more