19 Jun 2010

Moderate quake hits India's Anadaman Islands

6:01 pm on 19 June 2010

A 5.9 magnitude earthquake hit India's Andaman Islands, causing damage to infrastructure on the archipelago.

The quake caused alarm on a string of islands that were hit by the massive 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, but there have been no reports of casualties this time.

The United States Geological Survey said the quake struck at a depth of 27km, with the epicentre 180 kilometres from Port Blair on the Andaman Islands, in the Indian Ocean.

No tsunami warning was issued.

Government officials say many roads, offices and shops have been damaged.

A police control room official in Port Blair said efforts were being made to contact some of the more remote islands.

The 572 Andaman and Nicobar Islands, home to more than 350,000 people, are some of India's most easterly territories, flanked by the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal.