Strong earthquake rattles Alaska’s Aleutian Islands

The U.S. Geological Survey reported a 6.9-magnitude natural disaster with a depth of 14 miles southwest of Nikolski in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands, late Sunday.

Nikolski and its 15 permanent residents are on Umnak Island, one of the Fox Islands, which are just less than 1,000 miles west of Anchorage.

The area has had more than 12 large earthquakes since 1900, the Daily Mail said.

Tsunami program manager Cindi Preller said the threshold for the occurrence of a tsunami is a 7.0-magnitude natural disaster, which might be enough to generate a tsunami near the quake’s origin.

The earth began to shake at 8:49 p.m. and there were several aftershocks, according to Alaska Dispatch News.

The natural disaster was also only 53 miles south of Mount Cleveland, a rumbling volcano that last exploded on July 21.

A 6.9-magnitude natural disaster does not have enough energy to send waves all the way to California, Preller said.