News writing Assignment 1

Earthquake Story

ALEUTIAN ISLANDS- Earthquake shook three Aleutian Island fishing villages and strong earthquake hit Aleutian Islands at Sunday night.

Aleutian Islands earthquake hit at Sunday 7:01 p.m. George Carts said the quake was felt strongly in the towns of Unalaska, Dutch Harbor and Nikolski. These three fishing villages are located on western islands in the Aleutian chain. George Carts said, "There was some very minor damage at Nikolski, with items knocked off shelves and small items damaged."

The distance of the epicentre in the North Pacific about 40 miles east of the village of Nikolski whereas 850 miles southwest of Anchorage. There have 20 aftershocks and one measured 5.0 level of the earthquake on the scale. This level not powerful enough to cause a tsunami, officials said.

Alaska Tsunami Warning Center reported it measured has 6.6 level of earthquake on Richter scale. The earthquake of 6.6 magnitudes can cause severe damage if it hits populated areas. There have no reports of injuries or major damage.

Richter scale measures ground motion and is recorded on seismographs and each increase of one number means a tenfold increase in magnitude. For instance, 7.5 is 10 times greater than 6.5. Official categories: 3.5 can cause slight damage; 4, moderate damage; 5, considerable damage; 6, severe damage; 7, major earthquake, can cause widespread heavy damage; 8, great quake. After all, Aleutians are sparsely settled.