A powerful earthquake in Alaska didn’t trigger a big tsunami — here’s why
Last night, a magnitude 7.9 earthquake struck southeast of Kodiak Island in the Gulf of Alaska, prompting a tsunami warning that forced people to flee to higher grounds in the middle of the night. Fortunately, the tsunami waves were less than a foot high, and the advisories were canceled a little after 4AM local time. So why was Alaska so lucky?
Powerful quakes that happen out at sea are known to cause destructive tsunamis. In 2011, a magnitude 9 earthquake in northeastern Japan triggered waves as high as 126 feet, killing nearly 20,000 people. In 2004, a similarly strong quake off the coast of Indonesia caused a tsunami that killed more than 200,000 people. Alaska also has a history of strong earthquakes: in 1964, the state experienced…
