May 2 (UPI) — Parts of Alaska and Canada braced for more aftershocks after two major earthquakes rattled the region on Monday.
The first earthquake with a magnitude of 6.2 struck about 60 miles northwest of Haines, Alaska, and was felt across hundreds of miles of southeast Alaska and northwest Canada.
“It was a pretty good little roller,” said Tim Holm, a Haines Borough emergency medical technician and firefighter. “It pretty much woke up the whole town.”
The second, less than two hours later, registered a magnitude of 6.3 in nearly the same location, the Alaska Earthquake Center said. No damage was reported.
There have been 13,676 earthquakes reported in Alaska this year, the AEC said.
Seismologist Natalia Ruppert put the quakes’ epicenters in British Columbia and warned “pretty strong” aftershocks are expected. The biggest recorded so far was a magnitude 4.7
Michael West, a seismologist at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, said both earthquakes were the same magnitude as those that killed 250 people in Italy last August.
“A 6.3, 6.4, 6.5 magnitude quake like this one, it’s scary as hell if you’re right on top of it,” he said. “People need to be respectful of a quake this size.”
