Andhra coast has escaped the wrath of Tsunami, though there were fears earlier that the region would be exposed to the ocean waves. The government sounded a warning minutes after the quake struck the Sumatra islands on Wednesday afternoon.
“The expected period of significant tsunami waves is now over for all threatened Indian coastal areas,” the Tsunami Early Warning Centre said in a statement.
The union government was in constant touch with officials in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Odisha immediately after. The original earthquake struck Indonesia at 2.08 pm, and first reports said it measured 8.9 on the Richter scale.
Tremors from the earthquake were felt in the coastal cities including Chennai and Kolkata, sparking panic among people who rushed out of buildings. No loss of life or property was reported.
“The intensity of the aftershocks has also come down and authorities have confirmed that nothing (in the way of damage) occurred in Andamans and Nicobar islands,” M. Shashidhar Reddy, vice-president of the National Disaster Management Authority told reporters in New Delhi.
Fishermen were warned not to venture into the sea while the tsunami centre warned that waves reaching up to 3.8 metres in height could lash the shores of Nicobar Islands.
“We went through anxious moments, but looking back this was a God-given opportunity, something like a mock-drill to evaluate our preparedness. We will assess how States reacted to information from our early warning centre,” Mr. Reddy said.
The minutes after the first quake saw emergency drills in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. On the beaches at Chennai, policemen used megaphones to ask people to leave, with little effect. Mobile phone networks were jammed in the city till 4 pm. In Andhra Pradesh, fishermen were asked to return from sea.
