An 8.6 magnitude quake off Aceh, Sumatra, followed by an 8.2 aftershock, triggered what the Haiwaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre called a "significant tsunami." The alert was lifted 5am NZ time, with no reports of casualties or
UPDATE April 12: The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center has now lifted its alert covering Indonesia, Australia, South Africa and other countries around the Indian Ocean.
There are no reports of casualties or damage.
In what it said would be its final update, issued at 5am today New Zealand time, the Warning Centre said, "A significant tsunami was generated by this earthquake. However, sea level readings now indicate that the threat has diminished or is over for most areas."
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April 11: The US government's Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, based in Hawaii, has issued a tsunami alert following a magnitude 8.6 earthquake that struck off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia, at 8.38pm Indonesian time.
The quake was followed by an 8.2 afershock at 10.43pm NZ time.
New Zealand is not included in the Warning Center's alert (or an update in the wake of the 8.2 aftershock), which covers the whole of the Indian Ocean.
Civil Defence issued an update around 10.15pm confirming there was no known threat to NZ.
Around the same time, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told media their were no reports of casualties he was aware of.
According to the US Geological Survey, the quake occurred 434km west of the city of Banda Aceh, Sumatra at a depth of 33km.
The USGS has downgraded the quake from its initially reported 8.9.
On Boxing Day 2004, a 9.1-magnitude quake off Indonesia triggered a tsunami in the Indian Ocean that killed 230,000 people, nearly three-quarters of them in the province of Aceh.
The tsunami warning in place this evening covers Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Australia, Myanmar, Thailand, the Maldives and other Indian Ocean islands, Malaysia, Pakistan, Somalia, Oman, Iran, Bangladesh, Kenya, South Africa and Singapore.
