A 7.3 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Sand Point rattled communities across southwestern Alaska on Wednesday, triggering tsunami warnings, evacuations, and a flurry of political grassroots efforts on the topic of the public broadcasting.
The earthquake, which struck at 12:37 pm about 54 miles south of Sand Point, prompted a tsunami warning stretching from Kennedy Entrance to Unimak Pass, including Sand Point, Cold Bay, Kodiak, and the Homer Spit. By 1:50 pm, the National Tsunami Warning Center had downgraded the warning to an advisory after detecting small tsunami waves, none of which were expected to cause significant flooding.
Although no serious damage was reported and the situation quickly stabilized, the alert lit up social media in a different way.
As people grabbed their go-bags and headed for higher ground, a few turned to their phones not just for evacuation information, but to push a social media post for federal public broadcasting funding. Volunteer KMXT Kodiak radio host Mike Sirofchuck was among those who seized the moment, posting on Facebook during the warning:
“Right now is an excellent time to call Dan Sullivan and reminde [sic] him why public radio is an essential service in our community,” he wrote. “7.3 earthquake in Sand Point; Tsunami Warning issued. KMxT broadcasting up to the date essential information.”
Sirofchuck, who is often seen trolling Republican lawmakers, included the Capitol switchboard number and urged followers to contact Alaska’s Sen. Dan Sullivan to support continued federal funding for public broadcasting. The rescissions vote-a-rama was already underway in the Capitol at the time of the tsunami.
Yet, the irony was hard to miss: Most Alaskans learned of the tsunami alert not through the radio waves, but through automatic alerts sent directly to their mobile phones. Emergency text messages, part of the wireless emergency alert system, reached residents in affected areas within minutes of the earthquake.
In Homer, the mayor issued an “all clear” shortly after 2 pm, while Anchorage remained outside the warning zone altogether. People were advised to stay away from beaches and docks as a precaution, with reports of small waves and light currents but no widespread damage.
The incident reignited a perennial debate in Alaska, where rural communities embrace public radio, but residents everywhere increasingly depend on smartphones for emergency updates on weather, earthquakes, road closures, and even tsunamis.
With congressional votes underway to slash federal public broadcasting dollars, Wednesday’s tsunami warning became an unexpected and momentary rallying cry for supporters of local radio, whether or not they were tuned in when the alert came.
No further tsunami threats are anticipated, according to the National Tsunami Warning Center.
