Largest Earthquake in 3 Years Strikes Alaska

USGS map showing the epicenter of the January 23, 2018 M7.9 earthquake in Alaska. USGS While many people in the lower 48 states were asleep, Alaska experienced its largest earthquake in over 3 years. A M7.9 earthquake occurred 280 kilometers to the Southeast of Kodiak Island ... or, in other words, in the middle of the ocean near almost nothing. However, when it comes to earthquakes, occurring in the middle of the ocean has the potential of being just as dangerous as on land as there is the potential for a tsunami. Directly after the earthquake, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii issued a watch for the western seaboard of Canada and the United States that there was the potential for a tsunami to be generated by this large earthquake. There were some evacuations of low-lying coastal areas right after the earthquake due to this threat of a tsunami. Luckily that wasn't the case and all tsunami watches have now been cancelled. That being said, the earthquake did generate a small tsunami (~3 cm) that was detected Canada's Ocean Networks (see below).