NEW DELHI - A strong earthquake of 7.2 magnitude hit India's southern Nicobar Islands on Sunday, prompting Thailand to issue a tsunami warning for the region devastated by a December earthquake and tsunami that killed about 180,000 people. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damages.
The epicenter of the earthquake, which hit at 9:12 p.m., was in Nicobar, Press Trust of India news agency quoted meteorologists as saying. The quake also jolted the southern Indian state of Madras, PTI said. The region was the worst hit in India by the December tsunami.
Plodprasop Suraswadi, head of Thailand's national disaster preparedness center, said on national television and broadcast that there had been an earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.3 underwater in the Nicobar Island chain, 412 miles west of Thailand's southern island province of Phuket.
He warned that the effects from the quake could cause a tsunami in southern Thailand, and ordered emergency planning to be put into effect. He said that if there was a tsunami, the first waves could be expected to it Phuket's Akron Beach at 12:12 a.m.
