PORT BLAIR (AFP) — A powerful 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck off India's Andaman islands in the Indian Ocean on Saturday, the US Geological Survey said.
The epicentre of the quake was 140 kilometres (90 miles) southwest of Port Blair, the capital of the islands. It struck at a depth of 35 kilometres, the USGS said.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre did not issue an alert for the quake, which followed one with a 6.6 magnitude in the same region on Friday.
"There is no immediate report of damage or destruction," Chhering Targay, the archipelago's civilian administrator, told AFP. "But the quake today (Saturday) was much milder than yesterday."
Still, the quake triggered panic among locals, who recalled the deadly tsunami that struck in 2004, a spokesman for the disaster management office said.
"People ran out of their houses and refused to go in for some 30 minutes afterwards. Many were reliving the December 2004 quake that brought so much death and destruction to the islands," he said. "The quake was felt across most the islands."
The Andaman and Nicobar chain of 536 islands, 58 of them inhabited, was badly hit by the 2004 tsunami, with hundreds dead and more than 3,000 still officially listed as missing.
The local disaster management office said Saturday's quake was the sixth to be felt since the one late Friday -- a figure confirmed by USGS.
Port Blair resident Bharati Raja said many people spent Friday night sleeping outdoors, too afraid to go back in.
Last year, India launched a tsunami warning system designed to detect all earthquakes above a 6.0 magnitude in the Indian Ocean within 20 minutes.
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