A 4.8-magnitude earthquake hit Western Alaska just after 12:30 a.m. Saturday, gently shaking communities on and around the Seward Peninsula, according state seismologist Michael West.
By late Saturday morning, West had received no reports of damage and he said he would be surprised if the earthquake left behind any wreckage.
"We don't tend to get concerned about damage until a magnitude 5 or magnitude 5.5, and even then, that's for an earthquake right in town," said West who also directs the Alaska Earthquake Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
The quake's epicenter was about 27 miles northeast of Brevig Mission and 85 miles north of Nome. It was felt as far away as Noatak, about 140 miles away, according to responses collected by U.S. Geological Survey, and was followed about 11 minutes later by a smaller, 3.6-magnitude tremor.
In Brevig Mission, Natalie Olanna said she slept right through Saturday morning's earthquake. Olanna manages the Brevig Muit Store in the community of about 400,
"We didn't feel anything," she said. "We're all good."
In Nome, the quake prompted Jordan Karnes to get out of bed. Karnes, a waitress at Airport Pizza, said she was lying down when her bed began to shake.
"It was just a little tremble. It made me get up though," she said.
Karnes said she didn't notice any damage on her way to work Saturday morning.
West said that while a bulk of Alaska's earthquakes occur in the Aleutian Islands, and in the state's Southcentral and Interior regions, there are still "very significant earthquakes" in Western and Northwestern Alaska. In 1958, a 7.3-magnitude earthquake rocked Huslia, and Saturday's earthquake was in the same general zone of earthquakes, he said.
The National Weather Service's National Tsunami Warning Center in Palmer reported an alert early Saturday that the early-morning earthquake was not expected to produce a tsunami.