Powerful Earthquake Hits India’s Nicobar Islands

A 7.2-magnitude earthquake hit the Nicobar Islands south of India on Sunday, prompting Thailand’s government to issue a tsunami warning for the region that was devastated by the earthquake and resulting tsunami that hit the area in December of last year. The Nicobar Islands are located between India and Thailand in the Indian Ocean. Last year’s catastrophic tsunami that pounded the Indian Ocean basin the day after Christmas killed over 200,000 people in 11 countries, so naturally citizens and officials were frightened and worried about the potential dangers that Sunday’s quake would cause, but by late Sunday evening, no tsunami had been seen and Thailand canceled its warning.

The National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colorado, reported that this latest earthquake was centered about 80 miles west of Misha, Nicobar Island. The quake was felt in Indonesia’s Aceh province, which was the hardest hit area in the devastation caused by December’s quake. Residents of Aceh said the tremors rattled their homes for only about ten seconds and there was no damage as a result. Residents of Peraliya, the Sri Lanka village where last year’s tsunami killed over 2,000 people when a commuter train was swept away by raging waters, fled to higher ground when the earthquake hit. Naval ships were moved out to sea as a precaution to avoid damage if a tsunami resulted from the quake. Said navy Commander J. K. Jayarantne, "We are taking all precautions in a situation like that and keeping the past in mind."

The head of the National Disaster Warning Center in Thailand, Plodprasop Suraswadi, issued the tsunami warning on television broadcasts throughout the area, but when he officially lifted the warning about 90 minutes after issuing it since no tsunami was seen. According to Samir Acharya, head of the Society for Andaman and Nicobar Ecology, said his driver had run up to his house to tell him that people had come out onto the roads to assess damages, but were relieved to see that there was none. "Everything is fine. I haven't heard of any damage," he said.