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A massive earthquake with a magnitude of 7.9 struck the Aleutian Islands of Alaska Monday which prompted tsunami warnings and evacuations near the epicenter. The depth of the earthquake is 107.5 km below the earth's surface.

The National Tsunami Warning Center (NTWC) located at Palmer, Alaska issued the tsunami warning moments after the quake that stretched from Nikolski to Attu of the Aleutian Island chain.

"Widespread dangerous coastal flooding accompanied by powerful currents are possible and may continue for hours after tsunami arrival," said NTWC in a bulletin.

The earthquake hit at 4:53 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) near Little Sitkin Island. Tsunami warnings have been downgraded to an advisory roughly two hours later after experts saw no potential destructive tsunami for the Pacific coastlines.

According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), there have been 21 recorded aftershocks four hours after the earthquake struck.

A 6.0 aftershock came 18 minutes later, and another 5.9 quake came 37 minutes after the main shock. Another quake with magnitude 6.6 rocked the area East of Buldir Island at 11:15 EST.

The Pacific Tsuname Warning Center (PTWC) located in Hawaii said the quake was too deep in the Ocean to pose any threats to Hawaii and the coasts of California, Oregon and Washington.

In 1946, a great earthquake occurred in the same Aleutian Islands that unleashed a ferocious Pacific tsunami that killed 96 people in Hilo, Hawaii. The magnitude of the quake has been analyzed to be anywhere from 7.1 to 8.2.

The Good Friday earthquake of 1964, measuring an astounding 9.2 magnitude that rocked near the coast of Prince William Sound in Alaska, has been the most intense ever measured in the United States and has left massive visible effects in Anchorage. The tsunami triggered by the 1964 temblor caused 100 deaths in Alaska, five in Oregon and 14 in California.

Tagsalaska earthquake, Aleutian Islands, Good Friday earthquake 1964, Alaska tsunami warning