After Indonesia earthquake, tsunami alert and tremors in India

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.
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.