Massive earthquakes hit the north Indian Ocean off Indonesia on Wednesday and triggered a tsunami watch. The tremors sent people scurrying from buildings as far away as southern India.
A tsunami alert was issued to countries all along the rim of the Indian Ocean, from Australia and India to as far off as Africa.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the first 8.6-magnitude quake was a shallow 22 km in the sea, 435 km from Aceh's provincial capital.
In India, tremors were felt almost all along the east coast, sending people running out of their homes and offices.
Tremors of varying intensity were felt in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and West Bengal, apart from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which are the closest to the epicentre.
In Chennai, tremors were felt in many areas, forcing closure of government offices, educational institutions and private companies. Traffic on the roads was chaotic.
In Indonesia, the first temblor of 8.6-magnitude struck at 2.08 p.m. It was followed by aftershocks with magnitudes ranging from 6.6 to 8.2.
Soon after the first quake, the Hyderabad-based Tsunami Warning Centre issued a tsunami alert for the coastal areas. With no sign of a tsunami emerging, the centre was almost on the verge of withdrawing the alert, when the second tremor occurred at 4.13 p.m. The alert was continued and ultimately it was withdrawn around 6 p.m.
Keywords: Indonesia earthquake, Sumatra islands, Aceh, National Disaster Management Authority, tsunami alert
It is good to have such threats from the nature so that humans do not feel that they are the most intelligent ones to handle everything at their wish & will.Now we know the helplessness and will behave in sensible manner to all the things and beings around us.
I am an avid reader of your news paper .Recently I saw the news of Indonesia which provoked me to write this comment .What I want to describe is nothing but our country,India faces a lot of danger in future if no safety measures have been taken.Pollution is the greatest problem which occurred due to the increase in the population in India.So all Indians must keep the step forward to control the population.Once the population is under our control all the things will be vanished slowly..I am very thankful to this news paper
Dear Mr. Narasimhan,
Do not talk like a fool. Minister has clearly expressed, it was
a STRIKE-SLIP FAULT i.e. earthquake occurred due to release of energy
by tectonic plates moving against in horizontal direction. Our Alert
System worked perfectly and announcements were made in India even
before others.
The occurrence of tsunami or the likeliness of disturbed water
affecting coasts can be monitored and accordingly tsunami alert was
withdrawn. You cannot leave people in serious trouble & tension when
there is no real treat.
Please learn to trust your men, sometimes. Do not become indifferent.
Yes I am the fan of this news paper not so elder but the thing I want to express or want to say is that , I want to give the safety measures in your paper as the people have not seen such a condition in our nation until this was .
I thank this paper for all they are providing for us.
The whole world press reports are issuing alerts about a possible Tsunami and India is the only country which is claiming NO likelihood of Tsunami in the Indian ocean region. Does India have any dependable weather station and equipment OR are we still in paleolithic age?
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