Indian PM urges precaution against tsunami threat NEW DELHI, April 11 (Xinhua) -- Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh instructed governme...

Indian PM urges precaution against tsunami threat

NEW DELHI, April 11 (Xinhua) -- Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh instructed government to take precautionary measures against tsunami threat after a 8.6 magnitude quake hit off northern Sumatra, Indonesia on Wednesday, said local TV reports.

The Indian Air Force has sent a team of rescuers and relief materials to Port Blair, the main town of the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal, where a tsunami warning has been issued along with the nearby islands of Nicobar, said TV channel CNN-IBN.

An emergency rescue team is also on a stand-by status in Chennai, capital of southern Tamil Nadu state, where a tsunami alert was issued.

Meanwhile, Indian officials said there is no need to panic for fishermen along the Indian coast.

Two aftershocks were also felt in the southern Indian city of Chennai and eastern city of Kolkata including a 8.2 magnitude aftershock which hit off the west coast of northern Sumatra.

Indian officials said high waves could hit Andaman and Nicobar islands and urged the inhabitants of the islands to move to high places.

Several injured after 8.5 magnitude earthquake jolts Indonesia's Sumatra

The Photo taken on April 11, 2012 shows TV reports about patients in a hospital in Banda Aceh being transferred to safe place after an 8.5 magnitude earthquake took place in western Sumatra coast. Several people suffered bruises from falling materials on their heads when a major earthquake and aftershocks jolted northern Sumatra on Wednesday afternoon, a local TV reported. People living in Bengkulu, West Sumatra and Aceh were told to get ready for evacuation after the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics agency (BMKG) issued tsunami warning following the 8.5 magnitude earthquake. (Xinhua/Agung Kuncahya B.)