American state rocked by 7.3 magnitude earthquake leaving residents scrambling to high ground

An initial tsunami warning was issued but later cancelled.

The large earthquake struck at 12.37pm local time (8:37 BST), just off the coast of Sand Point in Alaska with further tremors being felt across the area.

Throughout the day, additional, smaller earthquakes occurred.

Eventually this led to a tsunami warning being issued by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), leaving locals to evacuate to higher ground.

A tsunami warning was active from about 40 miles southwest of Homer to Unimak Pass, however, this was soon downgraded to just advisory and eventually cancelled.

Few people live in the area, with one of the larger communities being Kodiak, which is home to 5,200 people.

Jeremy Zidek, a spokesman for the Alaskan state government, said: "We have seen other earthquakes in the area that have not generated significant tsunami waves, but we're treating it seriously and going through our procedures, making sure communities are notified so they can activate their evacuation procedures."

NOAA confirmed that a tsunami did indeed hit the coast, it was just incredibly small.

The initial warning stated that a tsunami of up to a foot could be possible, however, a buoy measured a small tsunami at Sand Point, sensing a water rise of just 0.2 feet, or about 3 inches, according to NOAA.

A tsunami of this size is mostly unnoticeable.

In a social media post, the Kodiak police department urged residents to utilize emergency shelters in the local elementary and high school “if you need to evacuate from the inundation zone”, the Anchorage Daily News reported.

Small townships put out notices to residents to move to higher ground such as in Unalaska, a fishing community of about 4,100 people, officials also urged people to move at least 50ft above sea level, one mile (1.6km) inland.

This latest earthquake follows a string of recent global activity with smaller quakes recently in Greece, Turkey, Spain and Indonesia to name a few.

Earthquakes are very common, however, a magnitude of 7.3 makes this instance one of the larger tremors of the year.