7.0 magnitude earthquake hits Anchorage, Alaska, USA

A powerful 7.0 magnitude earthquake has struck Alaska, causing people to run from buildings and prompting a tsunami alert for coastal areas of the state.

USGS says the earthquake Friday morning was centered about 7 miles (12 kilometers) north of Alaska's largest city.

An Associated Press reporter working in downtown Anchorage saw cracks in a 2-story building after the quake. It was unclear whether there were injuries.

People went back inside buildings after the earthquake but a smaller 5.8 magnitude aftershock a short time later sent them running back into the streets again.



Officials have canceled a tsunami warning for coastal areas of southern Alaska following the 7.0-magnitude earthquake that shook Anchorage.



Around 300,000 people live in Anchorage with 100,000 in the surrounding area.

The earthquake was reported at 08.29 local time (17.29 GMT), the USGS added.

Photographs posted to social media sites showed damage that included collapsed ceiling tiles at an Anchorage high school and buckled roads. One image showed a car stranded on an island of pavement, surrounded by cavernous cracks where the earthquake split the road.



On March 27, 1964, Alaska was hit by a magnitude 9.2 earthquake, the strongest recorded in U.S. history, centered about 75 miles (120 kilometers) east of Anchorage. The quake, which lasted about 4½ minutes, and the tsunami it triggered claimed about 130 lives.