Strong earthquake shakes up Anchorage area in Alaska

ANCHORAGE, Alaska, Sept. 25 (UPI) —

A strong earthquake centered 81 miles from Anchorage rattled Alaska’s largest city Thursday morning.

The quake, at 9:51 a.m. local time, measured 6.2 on the Richter magnitude scale, the U.S. Geological Survey reported. That’s strong enough to be felt over a wide area and to damage well-built structures near the epicenter.

The center was 81 miles northwest of Anchorage and 59 miles west-northwest of the small community of Willow.

There were no early reports of significant damage or injuries. But thousands of people felt the earthquake.

A Fairbanks News-Miner reporter was in the Anchorage courthouse when the quake struck.

"Wow. Big quake. At least it felt big on the 6th floor of the #Anchorage courthouse," Casey Grove said via Twitter, following it up with a tweet that he had been told the building was being evacuated.

Jennifer Castro, a spokeswoman for the Anchorage police, described the quake as "kind of a long one." But she told CNN the city appeared to have gotten through it without harm.