Quake hits Indian Ocean, tsunami alarm withdrawn
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The Indian National Center for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) has withdrawn a tsunami alarm after no serious sea wave was observed following a 7.8 degree earthquake on the Richter scale off the western coast of Andaman and Nicobar islands in the Indian Ocean at wee hours, said local TV channel Times Now.
The quake struck at around 12:56 a.m. local time (21:26 GMT Saturday) but no damage or casualty has been reported.
A small tremor was felt in Chennai, the capital of the southern state of Tamil Nadu, and its surrounding areas, said local TV channel CNN-IBN.
The epicenter of the quake was at 160 km west of Nicobar Islands at the depth of 35 km, said the Indo-Asian News Service.
The Hyderabad-based INCOIS issued a "Tsunami Watch" notice soon after the quake, said the news service.
The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) also issued a Regional Watch notice covering India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand and Malaysia but later scaled it down to India alone.
A Nicobar police officer told the Indo-Asian News Service that no damage has been reported.
