PORT BLAIR, India – A strong earthquake with a magnitude of 7.5 struck in the ocean near India’s Nicobar Islands yesterday, sparking some tsunami warnings, the US Geological Survey (USGS) and local officials said.
There were no initial reports of casualties or damage, although people ran from their homes in fear on Nicobar, witnesses said.
The quake was originally registered with a magnitude of 7.7 but that figure was later revised down slightly to 7.5, the USGS said.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii initially issued a regional tsunami watch that was put in effect for all areas of the Indian Ocean, including India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand and Malaysia.
The warning was later revised down to cover India only and was then cancelled for all areas.
“Sea-level readings indicate that a significant tsunami was not generated,” it said on its website www.weather.gov/ptwc/.
The epicenter of the quake was 97 miles (156 km) west of Misha on the Nicobar Islands at a depth of 21.7 miles (35 km), USGS said, slightly revising earlier figures.
Indian meteorological authorities said there was no tsunami threat to the Indian mainland.
“There has been no significant changes in the water level and we have not issued any tsunami alert for the region,” said Srinivas Kumar, an official from the tsunami centre in India’s southern city of Hyderabad.
People ran from their houses in Port Blair, capital of the Andaman and Nicobar islands, immediately after the quake struck, officials and witnesses said. – (Reuters)