Indonesia issues tsunami warning after 8.9 quake

India and Sri Lanka on Wednesday issued a tsunami warning after an earthquake of 8.7 magnitude struck off the coast of Indonesia, sending residents there dashing out of their homes and offices in fear.

The quake struck 308 miles (500 km) southwest of the city of Banda Aceh, on the northern tip of Sumatra island, at a depth of 20.5 miles (33 km), the US Geological survey said.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said a tsunami watch was in effect for the entire Indian Ocean and individual countries, including Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India, issued tsunami warnings.

People near the coast in six Thai provinces were ordered to higher ground.

The quake was felt as far away as the Thai capital, Bangkok, and in southern India, residents said.

Hundreds of office workers in the Indian city of Bangalore left their buildings while the Indian port of Chennai closed down because of the danger of a tsunami, the port said.

The quake was in roughly in the same area as a Dec 26, 2004, quake of 9.1 magnitude, which sent huge tsunami waves crashing into Sumatra, where 170,000 people were killed, and across the Indian Ocean.

In all, the 2004 tsunami killed about 230,000 people in 13 Indian Ocean countries, including Thailand, Sri Lanka and India.

The Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Service issued a red high-level warning for the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, located in the Indian Ocean, and also put out lower alerts for the coasts of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu states in the southeast of the country.

The quake was also felt in Sri Lanka and the southern Thai holiday island of Phuket, both of which were hit hard by the 2004 tsunami.