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Major 7.7 Quake Hits Near India's Nicobar Islands

   VOA News 12 June 2010

Photo: USGS

   This  map  from the US Geological Survey shows the location of the 7.7
   earthquake near India's Nicobar islands

   A  strong  earthquake of 7.7 magnitude has struck near India's Nicobar
   Islands, triggering a tsunami watch for all areas of the Indian Ocean.
   The  U.S. Pacific Tsunami Warning Center says quakes of this size have
   the potential to generate a destructive local or regional tsunami.
   A watch in effect for India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand and
   Malaysia.
   The U.S. Geological Survey says the quake struck at 1926 UTC Saturday,
   or
   1:26  Sunday  morning local time at the epicenter.  The epicenter was
   150  kilometers west of Mohean on the Nicobar Islands at a depth of 35
   kilometers.
   The  Nicobar  islands  are a chain of small islands across the Andaman
   Sea from southern Thailand.
   In  December  2004,  a  magnitude  9.0  quake off the coast of Sumatra
   triggered an Indian Ocean tsunami that killed nearly 230,000 people.
   Most  of  the  casualties  were  in Indonesia's Aceh province, but the
   tsunami  wrecked  coastal  communities over a large part of the Indian
   Ocean basin.
   Some information for this report provided by AP and AFP.

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