At least a few Unalaska residents felt a small rumbling this morning. A 4.5-magnitude earthquake hit at 10:20am about 45 miles northeast of town.

While a few people reported feeling the quake to the Unalaska Department of Public Safety, the event did not cause any injuries or damage according to Director Jamie Sunderland. As the quake was relatively small, it also didn’t trigger any sort of tsunami warning.

Over in Akutan, the quake was a bit more eventful, since the epicenter was only 12 miles from the community. Many over there felt the ground move.

“I was sitting at my desk helping a customer, and then my whole office building started to shake,” says Karen Vinsler, who works for the City of Akutan. “It was pretty scary.”  

According to Natasha Rupert with the Alaska Earthquake Information Center, the depth of the quake was 64 miles. She adds that the quake doesn’t share much in common with the major quakes the region experienced this summer.

“Probably it’s not directly related to any of those 6- or 7-magnitude earthquakes in the Aleutians,” says Rupert. “This earthquake was a little bit different in that it was at an intermediate depth.”

A 2.5-magnitude shock was recorded in the same vicinity shortly after noon.