A magnitude-6.2 earthquake shook parts of southern Alaska Thursday, including the state's largest city, but authorities said no tsunami activity is expected.
The quake occurred just before 10 a.m. Thursday, 80 miles northwest of Anchorage, where it was strongly felt, and lingered for at least one minute, according to the Associated Press.
There are no immediate reports of significant damage of injuries Some business have evacuated as a precaution, according to KTUU in Anchorage.
Staffers at the Nesbett Courthouse in downtown Anchorage felt the shaking in their office on the top floor of the six-story building.
"My computer tower fell off my desk," said judicial assistant Ellen Bozzini.
People stood in doorways until an evacuation was ordered, then took the stairs outside where they waited for about 20 minutes before being allowed back in, Bozzini told the AP.
The Tsunami Warning Center said no tsunami is expected along the West Coast.
U.S. & World
Several moderate to large quakes are reported in the region known as the Aleutian arc each year. Since 1900, a dozen earthquakes with magnitudes above 7.5 have occurred in the region, according to the USGS.
"It's pretty much a nonevent here in Anchorage right now," Anchorage Office of Emergency Management Director Kevin Spillers said of Thursday's shaking.
Jill Warburton was shopping at a department store. Items fell off shelves but didn't appear to be broken. When she got to her job at the Gold and Diamond Co. in midtown Anchorage, where she's a sales clerk, a few decorative plates had fallen on the ground.
"I went through the one in 64 -- this is nothing," she said.
In 1964, a magnitude-9.2 earthquake shook the state. That quake was the second-highest magnitude ever recorded.
The quake resulted in tsunamis. More than 130 people were killed.
