Governments around the Indian Ocean issued and then lifted tsunami warnings yesterday after an earthquake that ranked among the 10 most powerful of the last century hit off the coast of Indonesia prompting evacuations and business disruptions as far away as India.
The 8.6 magnitude earthquake and an 8.2 magnitude aftershock had raised fears of a repeat of the disaster that struck in 2004 when an earthquake triggered a tsunami that claimed the lives of 230,000 people across 13 Indian Ocean nations.
The US Geological Survey, which monitors earthquakes around the world, said yesterday’s quake hit Indonesia at 2.38pm local time in Aceh province. The epicentre was 434km south-west of Banda Aceh, the province’s capital, and just 200km from the earthquake in 2004.