An Associated Press report stated that Indonesia issued a tsunami warning earlier after an 8.7 magnitude earthquake hit waters off westernmost
Aceh province.
People on Twitter said tremors were felt in
Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and India. High-rise flats and offices on
Malaysia's west coast shook for at least a minute.
The Pacific
Tsunami Warning Centre in Hawaii said a tsunami watch was in effect for
Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Australia, Myanmar, Thailand, the Maldives
and other Indian Ocean islands, Malaysia, Pakistan, Somalia, Oman, Iran,
Bangladesh, Kenya, South Africa and Singapore.
A tsunami watch means there is the potential for a tsunami, not that one is imminent.
The
US Geological Survey said the powerful quake was centred 33km beneath
the ocean floor around 495km from Aceh's provincial capital.
Said,
an official at Indonesia's Meteorology and Geophysics Agency who goes
by only one name, said a tsunami warning has been issued.
Indonesia straddles a series of fault lines that makes the vast island nation prone to volcanic and seismic activity.
A
giant 9.1-magnitude quake off the country on December 26 2004 triggered
a tsunami in the Indian Ocean that killed 230 000 people, nearly three
quarter of them in Aceh.
- AP