ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Communities in areas along a 700-mile (1,127-km) stretch of Alaska’s southern coast ordered residents to higher ground after a powerful earthquake Wednesday, but officials quickly downgraded a tsunami warning for the region. There were no immediate reports of significant damage.

The earthquake, with a preliminary magnitude of 7.3, struck at 12:37 p.m. local time south of Sand Point, a community of about 600 people on Popof Island, in the Aleutian chain, according to the Alaska Earthquake Center. The first waves were projected to land there, but the state's emergency management division said an hour after the quake that it had received no reports of damage.

“We have........

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