All tsunami warnings lifted after powerful earthquake strikes the Indian Ocean
June 13th, 2010 - 5:26 am ICT by BNO NewsNEW YORK (BNO NEWS) — A powerful earthquake struck the Indian Ocean on early Sunday, seismologists said, briefly prompting tsunami alerts for several countries.
The 7.5-magnitude earthquake at 1.26 a.m. local time (1926 UTC Saturday) was centered about 155 kilometers (95 miles) west of Misha on India’s Nicobar Islands. It struck about 35 kilometers (21.7 miles) deep, making it a shallow earthquake, according to the United States Geological Survey.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center initially issued tsunami watches for India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand and Malaysia. The watches - except one - were canceled about an hour later. Just over an hour later, the tsunami watch for India was also canceled. “Sea level readings indicate that a significant tsunami was not generated,” the center said.
Even though the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center had already canceled a tsunami watch for Sri Lanka, the Sri Lanka Community Tsunami Early-Warning Centre issued a tsunami warning for its coastlines nearly an hour after the earthquake struck. The center later canceled the warning, saying there was no tsunami threat.
An official at the Sri Lanka center said some coastal areas were evacuated as a precaution after the earthquake struck, but said all evacuations were lifted when the tsunami warning was canceled. Radio stations in Sri Lanka, where people fled inland, asked people not to panic.
The earthquake was initially measured as having a magnitude of 7.7 on the Richter scale, but was later downgraded to a 7.5 after further review.
According to the United States Geological Survey, the population in the region resides in structures that are ‘highly vulnerable’ to earthquake shaking, but says some resistant structures exist. It estimated about 9,000 people perceived strong shaking, which could result in light to moderate damage. Another 37,000 people perceived moderate shaking, which could result in light damage.
Hours after the earthquake, there were still no reports of damage or casualties from the earthquake.
On July 24, 2005, a 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck only 33 kilometers (20 miles) northeast of Sunday’s earthquake, causing no fatalities.
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