/ 27 June 2008

India says no tsunami warning issued after quake

A strong earthquake shook India’s Andaman and Nicobar Islands, but no tsunami alert was issued, the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services said on Friday. ”The magnitude is 6,3 and it’s centred in the Andaman Islands,” Srinivas Kumar, an official at the centre, said.

”We have not issued any tsunami warning so far and there is no need for widespread evacuation required because it’s 6,3. We are studying the situation.”

The United States Geological Survey reported it was a 6,7-magnitude earthquake, centred 114km south-west of Port Blair, in the Andaman Islands, and was 35km deep.

Hundreds of people were out on the roads in Port Blair, officials and witnesses said.

People ran out of their houses and telephone lines were jammed, they said.

Police were asking people not to panic and return to their homes. — Reuters