A major earthquake off Alaska with a preliminary magnitude of 7.2 has prompted a tsunami advisory for the state's southern peninsula.The tsunami advisory was downgraded from an initial tsunami warning Wednesday afternoon after the earthquake struck about 50 miles south of Sand Point,

A lightly populated stretch of Alaska’s southern coast was under a tsunami warning Wednesday after a strong earthquake was felt throughout the region, and officials in the Pacific Northwest were evaluating whether there was any threat to coastlines there.

An earthquake measuring magnitude 7.3 was recorded off the Alaska coast on Wednesday, July 16, according to the USGS.