Swarm of Earthquakes Hits off Alaska’s Aleutian Islands

A swarm of earthquakes was recorded early Tuesday off Alaska’s Aleutian Islands, including the largest with a magnitude of 6.8 followed by aftershocks, APM reports.

There were few reports of the underwater quakes in the North Pacific being felt in nearby communities in a sparsely populated region of Alaska and no reports of damage, officials said.

Natalia Ruppert, a seismologist at the Alaska Earthquake Center, said it was a “very unusual, very energetic swarm of earthquakes.”

This area of the Aleutians, a chain of islands that jut off from southwest Alaska, has experienced a lot of seismic activity in the last year, including several large earthquakes said Jeremy Zidek, a spokesperson for the Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.