By IANS,
New Delhi : There is no threat of a tsunami along the Indian coast, the government said Friday after a magnitude-8.9 earthquake hit Japan, generating massive oceanic tides that killed many and left many more homeless.
“Tsunami threat does not exist in respect of India,” a statement from the home ministry said.
The statement said the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), a tsunami warning centre in Hyderabad, has assured that the tidal waves won’t reach Indian coasts.
“The INCOIS is continuously monitoring the situation,” it said.
Shailesh Nayak, secretary in the ministry of earth sciences, told IANS that tsunami warnings have been issued to east Asian countries and not in the Indian Ocean region and “people should not panic”.
Following the 2004 tsunami, India in 2007 had set up INCOIS under the ministry of earth sciences.
In Japan, the massive earthquake triggered tsunami waves as high as 10 metres that slammed the country’s coastal areas. At least 18 people were killed and over 100 injured. The earthquake struck off Japan’s northeastern coast, forcing people to flee their homes.
Tsunami alerts were issued in the Philippines, Taiwan, Guam and Russia, as well as islands in the Pacific and Indonesia.