New Delhi, Aug 11 A strong earthquake north of the Andaman islands jolted the archipelago and the Indian mainland's east coast early Tuesday. The quake in Bay of Bengal that measured 7.8 on the Richter scale led to a tsunami warning that was later withdrawn.
Thousands of people in Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and the Andamans spent the entire night on roads and fields fearing aftershocks, once the 1.25 a.m. earthquake brought them out of their beds in panic. However, no aftershock was felt, nor was any casualty reported.
The India Meteorological Department here reported the epicentre of the quake at latitude 14.10 north and longitude 93.00 east, just north of the Andaman Islands, and 1,020 km southeast of Orissa capital Bhubaneswar, where the jolt was clearly felt.
"No casualties or damage has been reported so far," Balaram Singh, officer on special duty in the Orissa revenue control room, told IANS about six hours after the temblor. "We were sleeping. We woke up after our house was shaken and some of our windows opened suddenly," said 45-year-old Sadasiba Mohapatra, a business executive who ran out of his Bhubaneswar apartment along with his wife. "We felt as if our house will collapse. We stayed on the road for several hours," he added.
The US Geological Survey immediately issued a tsunami alert for the coasts of India, Thailand, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. But the alert was withdrawn after a few hours when it became clear that no tsunami wave had been generated. In Andhra Pradesh, high tidal waves along the Bay of Bengal coast raised fears of tsunami among fishermen and people living in the coastal belt. The Visakhapatnam Cyclone Warning Centre, however, said such tidal waves were common after a quake. "I was sleeping when I heard cries of my parents and other family members. We all ran out of the house," a girl told a local television channel in Visakhapatnam. "We were afraid to go back to our house and remained in an open ground till dawn," said a resident of Kakinada town. Srikakulam, Vijayanagaram, Vijayawada, Rajhamundry and Tirupati towns also felt the tremors. Andhra Pradesh Revenue and Relief Minister D. Prasada Rao said there was no loss of life or property due to the temblor.
There were reports of two house collapsing in Krishna district but it was yet to be confirmed whether they collapsed due to the tremors, he added. Immediately after the quake, authorities in the southern state alerted fishermen along the coast and advised them not to venture into the sea. "Though no tsunami alert was issued, we still advised fishermen not to go into the sea as a precautionary measure," said Kishore Kumar, revenue divisional officer in Kakinada.
The Hyderabad-based Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), which runs the tsunami warning system, has said that there is no need for panic as a tsunami is not likely to occur as a result of the quake. "Usually aftershocks are recorded after a quake but there are no chances of another big earthquake," said INCOIS director S.C. Shenoi. A 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean had devastated coastal areas in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar, Bangaldesh, India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives and had killed thousands. (IANS)
