New Delhi/Bhubaneswar: The US Geological Survey issued a tsunami alert for the coasts of India, Thailand, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka immediately after a huge earthquake north of the Andaman islands jolted the archipelago.
The quake was reportedly felt even on the the Orissa coast on the country's mainland early on Tuesday.
The quake that measured 7.8 on the Richter scale led to a tsunami warning that was later withdrawn.
The alert was withdrawn after a few hours when it became clear that no tsunami wave had been generated.
Thousands of people in Orissa 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 in New Delhi 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.
Map locates 7.6 earthquake in the Indian Ocean. (Pic courtesy: AP)
"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.
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.
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