Western Aleutians: Strong earthquakes were recorded

A 6.3- magnitude earthquake was recorded at 3:38 p.m. on Saturday about nine miles south of Davidof Island in the western Aleutians. Since that first quake, there have been five additional earthquakes in the area measuring a magnitude 2.9 and higher as of 7 p.m. Saturday.

Stephen Holtkamp, duty seismologist with the Alaska Earthquake Information Center, says this is a pretty typical sequence for this region.

“We can expect the aftershock sequence to continue for a few days,” said Holtkamp. He also said there is a low chance, about 3 to 5 percent, of a larger earthquake happening in the same area.

There has been no tsunami risk with these earthquakes. Holtkamp says these earthquakes are too deep to create a tsunami. “In order for a tsunami to be generated, it (an earthquake) needs to move the sea floor up and down,” said Holtkamp. “There’s 65 miles of rock between where the earthquake happened and the water,” Holtkamp said.

Davidof Island is in the Rat Islands. The first quake was recorded 36 miles southeast of Kiska Volcano and 55 miles west of Semisopochnoi Island.