Earthquake shakes country, Tsunami alert withdrawn

A full-scale tsunami alert issued by the Met office following a massive earthquake in the Indian Ocean off India’s Andaman Islands early hours of Tuesday panicked people and prompted the government to ready thousands of volunteers for help, but eventually it shook Bangladesh without any tidal surge.
As the time tsunami was apprehend to hit the country was over, the Met Office here withdrew the alert.
Meanwhile, an earthquake was felt in the capital and Chittagong and Sylhet regions at 2:55:42 hours on Tuesday lasting few seconds after the major tremor of magnitude 7.8 on the Richter scale struck the Andaman islands.
Awakened from their sleep by the tremors, many panicked people ran out of the high-rise buildings.
The epicentre of the quake was 980 kilometres south-southeast of Bangladesh Seismic Centre at Agargaon in the city, the Met Office said.
At around 4:00am, the Met Office issued the tsunami alert for India, Myanmar, Indonesia, Thailand and Bangladesh, but the alert about the undersea quake that creates tidal upsurge was withdrawn at about 6:40am as it proved to be a false alarm. “According to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre and Japan Meteorological Agency, devastating tsunami is unlikely to affect the coast of Bangladesh as the expected time of 06:40 am (BST) on Tuesday was over,” said a Met Office bulletin to allay the worries.
It said: “There is no signal for the maritime ports of Bangladesh.”
However, the related agencies were advised to be watchful up to 0840am (BST) for the sake of precaution and safety of the coastal people.
Receiving the alert, the government put some 42,000 volunteers on the alert as a part of the preparatory measures lest there should be tsunami in the coastal districts.
After the quake, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was informed about the matter by Food and Disaster Management Minister Dr. M Abdur Razzaque.
“The Prime Minister then gave directive for taking necessary measures in tackling tsunami. Under her directives, three Divisional Commissioners along with the district administrations of the coastal regions were also alerted to face an impending disaster,” said an official handout.
UNB Cox’s Bazar correspondent reports: panic spread among the residents of the district town after the tremor jolted the Andaman Islands.
The quake was felt strongly from the Saint Martin’s Island. Besides, the offshore islands of Kutubdia, Moheshkhali and Sonadia were also jolted.
Earlier, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a warning of tsunami watch for the five countries, including Bangladesh.
Bangladesh, one of the five countries spread across Asia, awoke this (Tuesday) morning to a tsunami alert and later retracted the warning belying possible tsunami, according to news agency AP.
The powerful earthquake hit Tokyo and nearby areas shortly after dawn Tuesday, halting trains and forcing two nuclear reactors to shut down for safety checks.
More than 30 people suffered minor injuries in the Andaman islands.
No major casualties or damage were reported from the earthquake.
Earlier on Monday, an earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.6 on the Richter scale shook Tokyo and its surroundings.

Courtesy of UNB, Dhaka