Swarm of earthquakes, some strong, hits off Alaska islands

By MARK THIESSEN
Associated Press

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — An swarm of earthquakes has been recorded off Alaska’s Aleutian Islands, including the largest with a magnitude of 6.8 followed by aftershocks. There have been no reports of damage in Tuesday’s undersea quakes in the North Sea and few reports of them being felt in nearby communities in a sparsely populated region of Alaska. The largest quake was magnitude 6.8 and struck Tuesday morning about 40 miles southeast of the community of Nikolski. That was followed an hour later by a magnitude 6.6 quake. The Alaska Earthquake Center reports about a dozen or so aftershocks of magnitude 4.0 or higher have been reported since.