A tsunami warning has been lifted in Alaska following a Magnitude 7.0 earthquake this afternoon.
The US Geological Survey said the quake struck around 14km north of US state’s largest city, Anchorage.
The quake saw residents evacuating office buildings and hiding under desks – however many people returned inside shortly after.
An aftershock then saw them evacuating once again.
The National Tsunami Warning Centre issued a tsunami warning for coastal zones of southern Alaska following the quake and police in Alaska's Kodiak Island community - about 321km south of Anchorage - told residents to head for higher ground.
The warning was lifted at around 7pm Irish time.
The US National Tsunami Warning Center has lifted the previously issued tsunami warning for coastal areas of Alaska. https://t.co/RC23XIOEhU
— Twitter Moments (@TwitterMoments) November 30, 2018
Pictures posted to social media sites showed damage that included collapsed ceiling tiles at an Anchorage high school and buckled roadway pavement in places.
One photo shows a newsroom based in the city that felt the blow of the earthquake.
Another showed a car in the middle of a collapsed road.
Cereal boxes and packages of batteries littered the floor of a grocery store and picture frames and mirrors were knocked from living room walls.
Alaska averages 40,000 earthquakes per year, with more large quakes than the other 49 states combined.
The quake struck at a depth of around 40m.
The USGS said earthquakes are common in region – with 14 quakes measured at above a magnitude of 6.0 in the area this century.
Alaska experiences around 40,000 tremors every year.
The Great Alaska Earthquake of 1964 had a magnitude of 9.2 and affected several hundreds of kilometres around Anchorage. It was the strongest earthquake in US history.
The tsunami it triggered claimed around 130 lives.
