The Indian government on Thursday asked authorities in its Andaman and Nicobar island territories to remain vigilant and monitor the situation in view of the latest earthquakes in Indonesia, news reports said, according to DPA. The island administration has been asked to "keep watch" on the situation, a Home Ministry spokesman told the PTI news agency, adding that no alert had been issued. The spokesman said the Home Ministry and other government departments were constantly taking stock of the situation. A strong earthquake of magnitude 7.8 on the Richter scale hit Indonesia early on Thursday, after which the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) issued a tsunami warning for surrounding coasts of the Indian Ocean. Indian authorities had on Wednesday issued an alert for the Andaman and Nicobar Islands after a powerful earthquake of 8.4 magnitude jolted parts of Indonesia's Java and Sumatra islands. The alert was withdrawn late on Wednesday evening after it appeared that there was no imminent threat. The Indian Ocean tsunami of December 26, 2004 killed more than 12,000 in India, largely in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and along India's western coast, and inflicted damage and losses of about 1 billion dollars.
