Tsunami Warning Canceled After Alaska Earthquake

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (CBSNewYork/AP) — The National Tsunami Center has canceled a tsunami warning that was triggered by a powerful earthquake off the coast of Alaska.

Mickey Varnadao, a computer specialist with the warning center in Palmer, Alaska, said early Tuesday that an advisory remains in effect for parts of Alaska, from Kodiak Island to Prince William Sound.

Watches have been canceled for British Columbia in Canada, Washington, Oregon, California and Hawaii. Officials in Japan say there is no tsunami threat there.

Varnadao says the agency canceled the alert after waves failed to show up in coastal Alaska communities. About two hours after the quake, the city of Kodiak, which was projected to see the first wave at about 1:45 a.m., still had no reports of a wave hitting.

The earthquake was recorded about 12:30 a.m. about 170 miles southeast of Kodiak Island in the Gulf of Alaska. It had a preliminary magnitude of 8.2 but has been downgraded to magnitude 7.9.

Warnings from the National Weather Service sent to cellphones in Alaska earlier Tuesday morning warned: "Emergency Alert. Tsunami danger on the coast. Go to high ground or move inland."

People reported on social media that the quake was felt hundreds of miles away in Anchorage.

The U.S. Geological Survey tweeted that the quake was "the result of strike slip faulting."

"At it's location, the Pacific plate is converging with the North America plate."

(© Copyright 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)