Earthquake in Sumatra triggers tsunami alert in India

A high intensity earthquake that rocked Indonesia on Wednesday has triggered a tsunami alert in many states along India's east coast, which also felt the tremors.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has said shocks were felt along the eastern part of India and a tsunami alert had been issued along coast by the Indian National Tsunami Early Warning System (Incois).

An alert has also been sounded in 27 other countries.

The earthquake had its epicentre off the west coast of northern Sumatra and occurred at 2.08 pm, the IMD said. There have been no reports so far of loss of life or property in India or elsewhere.

While the IMD put the earthquake's intensity at 8.5 on the Richter scale, the US Geological Survey classified it at 8.9, whose epicentre was at a depth of 33 km.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre issued the tsunami watch for 28 places, including Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Australia, Myanmar, Thailand, Maldives, Britain, Malaysia, Mauritius, Syechelles, Pakistan, Somalia, Oman, Madagascar, Iran, UAE, Yemen, Bangladesh, Tanzania, Mozambique, Kenya, South Africa and Singapore.

With inputs from IANS