Tsunami warning issued after earthquake near Alaska

(CNN) A tsunami warning was issued Monday after a preliminary magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck near Sand Point, Alaska.

The warning was for the Alaska Peninsula and South Alaska, according to the National Tsunami Warning Center in Palmer, Alaska.

"We are still waiting for any wave that may have been generated," Scott Langley with the National Tsunami Warning Center said.

Langley said the area subject to the warning is "pretty remote." Officials should know soon whether a tsunami was generated, he said.

"For other US and Canadian Pacific coasts in North America, the level of tsunami danger is being evaluated. Further information will be provided in supplementary messages," the agency said.

The earthquake's epicenter was recorded less than 60 miles from Sand Point, near the Aleutian Peninsula in the southwestern part of the state.

"We did feel it," Sand Point Clinic employee Lorna Osterback said. "This is a big one."

Osterback said residents of the town will be heading to higher ground away from the shoreline in the wake of the large quake as they wait out the tsunami threat.

"We expect we will have another one in about half an hour," noted Osterback. "We're right on the fault line. I grew up here and it's kind of normal."

Several aftershocks, including one with a magnitude of 5.9 and one that was 5.8, struck in the hour after the big quake.