Authorities on the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius on Tuesday cancelled a tsunami alert issued late Monday after an underwater earthquake measuring over 8.0 on the Richter scale struck off the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The alert was lifted shortly after 4 am (0000 GMT) when it became clear that the quake, which may have killed 1,000 to 2,000 on the island of Nias, had not produced tidal waves of the type that devastated Indian Ocean coastlines in December, officials said.
The Mauritius national weather service said Monday it had sent out tsunami alerts to the coastal regions as well as the islands of Rodrigues and Agalega and warned people not venture on beaches and in coastal areas.