Major quake rocks southern Alaska

A 7.0 magnitude earthquake shook Anchorage, Alaska, Friday morning, triggering a brief tsunami warning that was quickly canceled. The U.S. Geological Survey said the earthquake was centered about 7 miles north of Alaska’s largest city. The quake caused lamp posts and trees to sway in downtown Anchorage, prompting people to run out of offices or seek shelter under their desks. The full extent of damages or possible injuries is unknown, but photographs posted to social media sites showed collapsed ceiling tiles at an Anchorage high school and buckled pavement on some roads. Cereal boxes and packages of batteries littered the floor of a grocery store after the earthquake.

Alaska averages 40,000 quakes per year—more than the other 49 states combined. The high risk of earthquakes is due to the Pacific and North American tectonic plates sliding past each other under southern Alaska.