New Delhi: A tsunami warning has been issued for the entire Indian Ocean after an earthquake measuring 8.7 on the Richter scale hit Indonesia a little after 2 pm. Officials in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands are preparing for evacuation procedures, though they stress that there has been no tsunami sighting so far. Three-six metre high waves were expected to hit the Nicobar Islands at 2.40 pm. On the beaches at Chennai, policemen used megaphones to ask people to leave.
The quake was felt in Singapore, Thailand and India. High-rise apartments and offices on Malaysia's west coast shook for at least a minute.
In India, tremors were reported in Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore and the southern part of Chennai. The tremors lasted for a few seconds. In Bhubaneshwar, people were seen running out of their homes and offices. No damage has been reported so far.
NDTV viewer AG Kalidass emailed from Bangalore to say, "We were feeling our building shaking." Another viewer Shyam Agarwal writes, "I am from Kolkata. Just now a few minutes back heavy stroke of earthquake has been observed here."
The U.S. Geological Survey said the powerful quake was centered 20 miles (33 kilometers) beneath the ocean floor around 308 miles (495 kilometers) from Aceh's provincial capital.
Indonesia straddles a series of fault lines that makes the vast island nation prone to volcanic and seismic activity.
A giant 9.1-magnitude quake off the country on Dec. 26, 2004, triggered a tsunami in the Indian Ocean that killed 230,000 people in 13 Indian Ocean countries, including Thailand, Sri Lanka and India.
Courtesy : NDTV, April 11, 2012 15:17 IST
Tsunami warning in 28 nations as 8.9 quake hits Indonesia
Indonesia has issued a tsunami warning after a quake with a preliminary magnitude of 8.9 hit waters off westernmost Aceh province. Tsunami alerts have been issued for 28 countries
The US Geological Survey said today the quake was centred 33 kilometres beneath the ocean floor around 495 kilometres from the provincial capital of Banda Aceh.
Said, an official at Indonesia's Meteorology and Geophysics Agency who goes by only one name, said a tsunami warning has been issued.
Indonesia straddles a series of fault lines that makes the vast island nation prone to volcanic and seismic activity.
A giant 9.1-magnitude quake off the country on December 26, 2004, triggered a tsunami in the Indian Ocean that killed 230,000 people, nearly three quarter of them in Aceh.
Tremors were also elt in Indian cities such as Kolkata, Bangalore, Vishakhapatnam and Patna. Kolkata Metro services have been suspended.
A tsunami warning for Chennai and the east coast of India at 4:57 pm today has been sounded out.
Courtesy : Business Standard, Apr 11, 2012, 14:35 IST
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