Powerful quake hits off Indian Ocean archipelago, no tsunami risk

An undersea earthquake measuring 6.7 on the Richter scale struck off India’s Andaman islands in the Indian Ocean on Friday, the US Geological Survey said, causing people to flee their homes.

Officials and witnesses said the quake triggered panic and fears of a repeat of the devastating 2004 tsunami that ravaged the island chain.

Residents ran out of their homes as the powerful jolt rattled buildings, already weakened by a series of earthquakes that have hit the Andamans since the tsunami.

The epicentre of the quake was 115 kilometres (70 miles) southwest from capital Port Blair, the USGS said.

The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, however, said that “a destructive widespread tsunami threat does not exist based on historical earthquake and tsunami data.” “We have not issued any tsunami alert although it occurred at a depth of around 35 kilometres (21.7 miles) in the Andaman Sea,” a spokesman from the local Disaster Management Cell told AFP.

The archipelago’s civilian administrator Chhering Targay said there were no immediate reports of damage.

“Till now we have not received any report of any damage or any casualty,” he said.

The Indian navy ordered its ships not to approach Andaman shores until an all-clear was sounded by the local military command.

The Andaman and Nicobar chain of 536 islands, 58 of them inhabited, was badly hit by the 2004 tsunami, with hundreds dead and more than 3,000 still officially listed as missing.

Port Blair, Friday, AFP