Indian shorelines safe, no tsunami: Government

New Delhi, Mar 11: The government today (Mar 11) said there was no tsunami threat to India in the wake of the massive earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

In a statement, the Home Ministry said the Hyderabad- based Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) has informed that the tsunami threat does not exist in respect of India.

"The INCOIS is continuously monitoring the situation," it said.

Japan was struck by a magnitude 8.9 earthquake off its northeastern coast today, unleashing a 13-foot tsunami that washed away cars and tore away buildings along the coast near the epicenter.

More than 1000 people were killed and several lakh others were rendered homeless in India when a tsunami triggered by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake hit southern peninsular coast on 26 Dec 2004.

"In less than eight minutes, the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) in Hyderabad, which has a tsunami early warning centre, issued a bulletin in which it has been clearly stated India does not have any threat," National Disaster Management Authority, vice-chairman, M Sashidhar Reddy, told reporters in Hyderabad.

"In fact, the entire Indian Ocean region does not have any Tsunami threat. So, as things exists there is no question of any threat to the Indian coast right now and this will continue to be so, " Reddy, a senior Congress MLA said.

PTI