Japan quake causes Alaska tsunami scare

ANCHORAGE — Dozens of law enforcement and emergency personnel gathered at the public safety building in Dutch Harbor early this morning after a powerful undersea earthquake struck near Japan.

The earthquake occurred at 2:14 a.m. Alaska time and had a preliminary magnitude of 8.1, according to the Alaska Tsunami Warning Center in Palmer. It was centered about 245 miles east of the island known in Japan as Etorofu, which is about 110 miles northeast of Hokkaido, according to the Japanese meteorological agency.

The Alaska Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami warning for coastal areas in the Aleutian Islands. Dutch Harbor, with 4,500 people, is the largest community within the warning area. The center advises that in the event of a warning people in low-lying areas be alert for instructions from emergency officials. It also says that people on the beach should move to higher ground.

"It was an interesting deal," said police Lt. Jamie Sunderland, chairman of the local emergency planning committee. "In the end, we did not activate the siren or evacuate anyone."

Sunderland said the community has an emergency plan in place for just such an event. In the 1990s, the plan was used when the threat of a tsunami forced back-to-back evacuations to above the 50-foot line. Dutch Harbor installed tsunami warning sirens after that, he said.

Initial reports out of Japan today predicted a wave of more than six feet would hit the northernmost island of Hokkaido. Several thousand people fled to higher ground.

However, the wave did not materialize. The quake did result in a swell that was higher than 16 inches that rapidly diminished in size. Japan's meteorological agency later withdrew its tsunami warning after about three hours, although it urged continued caution.

Alaska had about a three-hour wait before a wave could reach its shores.

Sunderland said Dutch Harbor kept track of events through information received from the Alaska Tsunami Warning Center. Officials knew when the center said a 7.8-inch wave hit Shemya Island and a 3-inch wave hit Amchitka Island that an evacuation of coastal areas of Dutch Harbor probably would not be needed.

Emergency officials did get a slew of calls, Sunderland said. They told citizens there had been a powerful quake but there was no call to evacuate, he said.

"If an 18-foot wave had swamped Shemya we probably would have done something drastically different," Sunderland said.

A tsunami watch also was issued for Hawaii by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, and for the northern tip of British Columbia, and precautionary advisories were issued for coastal areas in Washington, Oregon and California. All were later lifted.

Alaska recorded a 9.2 magnitude quake on March 27, 1964, making it the strongest one ever recorded in North America. It was centered in Prince William Sound 75 miles east of Anchorage. The quake and the tsunami that followed killed 131 people.

A magnitude 9.1-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Indonesia on Dec. 26, 2004, caused a tsunami as high as 33 feet that killed at least 213,000 people in 11 countries.