As residents of Alaska were woken in the early hours of this morning by a tsunami warning, on the other side of the country, President Trump was tweeting about “fake news”.
Americans along the West Coast were told to get up and head inland to higher ground after a magnitude 7.9 earthquake struck 160 miles southeast of Chiniak.
Just under two hours after the warning was issued, the President was apparently watching TV and deciding CNN isn’t actually “fake news’ - so long as it is praising him.
The tweet is particularly worrying in light of the arrest on Friday of a man who allegedly threatened to shoot and kill all CNN employees over “fake news”.
In a series of three phone calls, Brandon Griesemer is accused of telling an operator at the network:
“Fake news. I’m coming to gun you all down.”
“I am on my way right now to gun the fuckin' CNN cast down. Fuck you.”
“I'm coming for you CNN. I'm smarter than you. More powerful than you. I have more guns than you. More manpower. Your cast is about to get gunned down in a matter of hours."”
Trump then moved on, targeting the FBI in a tweet that he even had time to delete and re-write.
At the time of writing and three hours after the tsunami warning was issued, Trump has yet to tweet about it or release a statement.
UPDATE: Trump has tweeted again, this time about DACA.
Emergency sirens sounded in Kodiak, a town of 6,100 people on Alaska’s Kodiak Island, one of the closest settlements to the epicenter.
Videos posted to social media appeared to show people evacuating the area and warnings from officials.
“This is a tsunami warning. This is not a drill. Please get out to higher ground,” said the announcer on local public radio station KMXT. “If you are on the flats, get up on one of the hills ... Just go high.”
There were no immediate reports of damage or injury.
“Based on all available data a tsunami may have been generated by this earthquake that could be destructive on coastal areas even far from the epicenter,” the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said.
An initial tsunami watch for Hawaii was cancelled.
Japan’s meteorological agency said it was monitoring the situation but did not issue a tsunami alert.