Andhra Pradesh was put on alert

From Port Blair in Andaman to Nellore in Andhra Pradesh Tsunami scare kept people rushing out of their houses and working places on Wednesday evening as an earthquake of 8.7 magnitude on the Richter scale battered the Sumatra islands leading to a cascading impact in the 28 countries across the Indian Ocean.

The Andhra Pradesh State Disaster Management authorities had alerted all the districts along the 970-km coastline of the state to be on alert as the tidal waves of tsunami were likely to hit the state around 5.30pm-5.35pm on Wednesday evening.

The Tsunami was expected to hit the Andaman Nicobar Islands around 4:35pm, said the officials of the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) here. ”Tidal waves of 2.7 metres and intermittent showers will accompany it,” the officials of the Visakhapatnam Weather Office said.

 The INCOIS had issued a “Tsunami warning” for three islands of the Andaman and Nicobar coast and a “Tsunami alert” for Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. The warning had also been issued for Indira Point, Kamatra and Katchal Islands, according to Satheesh C Shenoi, Director of INCOIS.

He said the Tsunami warning and the alerts have been sent to the Ministry of Home Affairs, Andaman and Nicobar Islands administration and various state governments along the East Coast, including Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

As per the alert, the coastal regions might experience waves up to a height of two to two-and-half metres. He said the situation was being constantly monitored and the concerned authorities would be regularly updated.

Meanwhile, National Geophysical Research Institute Director Chaddha said the tremors were felt for 30 seconds at various locations in Andhra Pradesh coastal district towns including--Guntur, Vijayawada , Nellore , Visakhapatnam, Kakinada, Anakapally , Tirupati and Vizianagaram.