The largest of the Near Islands are Attu and Agattu, which shelter a few rocks in the channel between them. The other important islands are the Semichi Islands to their northeast, notable among which are Alaid, Nizki and Shemya.[citation needed]
About 20 miles (30 km) to the east-southeast from Shemya are small rocky reefs known as the Ingenstrem Rocks.[citation needed]
The total land area of all of the Near Islands is 1,143.785 km2 (441.618 sq mi), and their total population was 47 persons as of the 2000 census. The only populated island is Shemya; the U.S. Coast Guard station on Attu closed in 2010 and all inhabitants left the island later that year.[citation needed]
On July 17, 2017, a major earthquake with a moment magnitude of 7.7 struck the Aleutian arc, with an epicenter west of Attu. The earthquake produced a measurable tsunami that was detected at tide guages across the Pacific ocean; a tide guage located at Shemya, Alaska measured a tsunami height of 10 cm (3.9 in).[2]
The islands were named Near Islands by Russian explorers in the 18th century because they were the nearest of the Aleutian Islands to Russia (that is, if one excludes the Commander Islands).