ID :
127673
Sun, 06/13/2010 - 20:11
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/127673
The shortlink copeid
Phangnga residents return home after tsunami warning evacuation
PHANGNGA, June 13 (TNA, Agencies) - Residents of the Andaman Sea coastal province of Phangnga in the south of Thailand returned to their seaside homes Sunday morning after a tsunami warning evacuation triggered by a 7.5-quake off India's Nicobar Islands shortly after midnight.
The situation was declared normal and villagers of the Boxing Day 2004 tsunami-hit Baan Nam Khem in Takua Pha district moved back to their homes in this seaside fishing village, but they still paid attention to further possible warnings.
The National Disaster Warning Center issued a tsunami warning early Sunday after a 7.5-magnitude earthquake struck under the Indian Ocean floor some 690 kilometres from Thailand.
Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency reported the quake hit at 1:26 am Thailand time (1926 GMT) at a depth of 35km with the epicentre around 160km west of India's Nicobar Islands.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, based in Hawaii, initially issued a warning for the entire Indian Ocean region, but it was downgraded to a warning for India only, when the magnitude of the quake was revised to 7.5 from 7.7,
and later the centre cancelled the alert altogether.
Indian Ocean islands were badly hit by the 2004 Asian tsunami which was triggered by an earthquake off the Indonesian island of Sumatra and sent giant waves crashing across the region.
The 2004 tsunami killed more than 220,000 people, most of them in the northern Indonesian province of Aceh. Thousands of people were also killed in Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand and India.
Sunday's quake hit around 440km south of Port Blair, the largest town on the Andaman Islands, and around 1100km southwest of the Thai capital Bangkok, according to AFP. (TNA, Agencies)
The situation was declared normal and villagers of the Boxing Day 2004 tsunami-hit Baan Nam Khem in Takua Pha district moved back to their homes in this seaside fishing village, but they still paid attention to further possible warnings.
The National Disaster Warning Center issued a tsunami warning early Sunday after a 7.5-magnitude earthquake struck under the Indian Ocean floor some 690 kilometres from Thailand.
Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency reported the quake hit at 1:26 am Thailand time (1926 GMT) at a depth of 35km with the epicentre around 160km west of India's Nicobar Islands.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, based in Hawaii, initially issued a warning for the entire Indian Ocean region, but it was downgraded to a warning for India only, when the magnitude of the quake was revised to 7.5 from 7.7,
and later the centre cancelled the alert altogether.
Indian Ocean islands were badly hit by the 2004 Asian tsunami which was triggered by an earthquake off the Indonesian island of Sumatra and sent giant waves crashing across the region.
The 2004 tsunami killed more than 220,000 people, most of them in the northern Indonesian province of Aceh. Thousands of people were also killed in Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand and India.
Sunday's quake hit around 440km south of Port Blair, the largest town on the Andaman Islands, and around 1100km southwest of the Thai capital Bangkok, according to AFP. (TNA, Agencies)
