2010-06-13 09:22:07

A tsunami warning issued for the entire Indian Ocean region following Sunday morning’s earthquake off India’s Nichobar Islands was called off hours later.

The quake hit at 12.56 am (1926 GMT) at a depth of 35 kilometres (22 miles) with the epicentre around 160 kilometres west of India’s Nicobar Islands.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, based in Hawaii, initially issued a warning for the entire Indian Ocean region. This was downgraded to a warning for India only, when the magnitude of the quake was revised to 7.5 from 7.7, and later the centre cancelled the alert altogether.

“Sea level readings indicate that a significant tsunami was not generated,” the centre said in a bulletin.

In Colombo the Met Department issued an alert prompting some of the people to vacate their homes.
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Tremor felt in several parts of Sri Lanka - Tsunami warning issued
2010-06-13 01:21:44

The Meteorolgical Department has issued a tsunami warning following a tremor felt in several places in Sri Lanka a short while ago. Buildings and vehicles in the town shook for a good 15 seconds when the tremor hit Colombo around 1 am today.

Residents in the Coastal areas have been told to be alert of a possible tsunami threat.

According to the Geological Mines and Survey Bureau, the tremor was the result of a 7.7 magnitutude earthquake off Indonesia.

According to Newsolio.com, the tremor was triggered by a “massive” undersea earthquake and a tsunami was immediately called for India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand and Bangladesh.

“Earthquakes of this size have the potential to generate a destructive local tsunami and sometimes a destructive regional tsunami along coasts no more than 1,000 km (620 miles) from the earthquake epicenter,” Newsoli.com quoted the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center as saying.

The earthquake hit at a depth of around 35 kilometers 164 km (102 miles) W from Misha, Nicobar Islands, India, 448 km (278 miles) SSW from Port Blair, Andaman Islands, India and 452 km (281 miles) WNW from Banda Aceh, Sumatra, Indonesia, the site added.