Small Gulf of Alaska Quake Triggers Homer’s Tsunami Warning System

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A 2.29 magnitude earthquake 59 northeast of Kodiak in the Gulf of Alaska, and a maintenance error generated a Tsunami alert in Homer, Alaska Tuesday morning.

The quake east of Afognak Island of Kodiak occurred at 10:13 am Tuesday morning. The warning system on the Kenai peninsula was triggered at 10:20 am.

Homer’s Tsunami warning system was triggered and issued an alert that prompted the Homer spit to temporarily begin evacuations. A steady stream of vehicles could be seen moving off the spit until the all-clear was sounded.

Once the error was discovered, a pre-recorded all clear, test complete message was broadcast. It was not a test however.

The 2.29 magnitude earthquake was only one of 33 to occur within the state on Tuesday. 20 of those quakes occurred in the Ester area today.