Tsunami warning canceled hours after strong earthquake hit off Alaska

(CBS NEWS)– A powerful 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck the Aleutian Islands area off the Alaskan peninsula late Tuesday night, prompting a tsunami warning for cities and towns within 200 miles of the epicenter. Police in Kodiak urged residents to rush to higher ground ahead of the tsunami’s possible arrival. Aftershocks were being felt.

But the tusnami warning was canceled within about four hours.

The shallow quake — with an epicenter some six miles down — hit at 10:12 p.m. local time (11:12 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time) some 500 miles southwest of Anchorage and around 60 miles south-southeast of the remote settlement of Perryville, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

“Based on the preliminary earthquake parameters … hazardous tsunami waves are possible for coasts located within 300 km of the earthquake epicenter,” the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said. The warning covered South Alaska, the Alaska Peninsula and the Aleutian Islands.

There was no tsunami threat for coastal areas of Canada and the U.S., the center said.

The quake was felt hundreds of miles away.