A major earthquake of magnitude 7.6 struck in the Indian Ocean off India's Andaman Islands early today, but a tsunami alert for India, Myanmar, Indonesia, Thailand and Bangladesh was later cancelled.
Three hours after the earthquake there were no reports of a tsunami or of any casualties from the tremor, officials said. The small chain of islands lie hundreds of miles east of India in the Indian Ocean.
The US Geological Survey (USGS) said the quake, initially reported as a magnitude 7.7, struck at 1.55am. It was relatively shallow, at a depth of 33km and was centred 260km north of Port Blair.
The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said there could be a destructive wave along coasts up to 1,000km from the epicentre, but it later withdrew its warning.
A 7.6 magnitude quake is classified by the USGS as a major earthquake and is capable of widespread, heavy damage.
A massive quake in the Indian Ocean in 2004 caused a tsunami that killed some 228,000 people, the majority in the Indonesian province of Aceh on the northern tip of Sumatra island.
Elsewhere, a strong earthquake jolted Tokyo and surrounding areas early this morning, disrupting transport and closing a nuclear power plant for safety checks.
The magnitude 6.5 quake centred around 150km southwest of Tokyo damaged the main motorway south from the capital and prompted a brief suspension of high-speed train services, but there were no reports of major casualties.
Public broadcaster NHK said 81 people suffered injuries, most of them minor, from the 5.07am local time tremor.
The quake, with a focus 20km below the surface of Suruga Bay in Shizuoka prefecture, had a preliminary magnitude of 6.5, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.
The Tomei Motorway that runs between Tokyo and Nagoya was closed by a landslide and the weather agency warned that heavy rain since yesterday meant further slips were possible. Those storms have killed at least 13 people in Japan, with a further 15 missing.
Reuters