Tsuanmi Alert Lifted

Millions breathe sigh of relief after tsunami alert is lifted following double quake that spread panic from Indonesia to India

Millions of people living along the coastline of the Indian Ocean were left breathing a sigh of relief today after warnings of a devastating tsunami were lifted following two massive earthquakes. Panic spread across the region after an 8.7 magnitude tremor struck 270 miles off the Indonesian province of Aceh - which bore the brunt of the Boxing Day tidal wave of 2004.

Tsunami warnings were instantly issued in Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Australia, Burma, Thailand, the Maldives, Malaysia, Pakistan, Somalia, Oman, Iran, Bangladesh, Kenya, South Africa and Singapore. In the Indonesian city of Banda Aceh, terrified residents screamed 'God is great!' as they jumped into cars and the backs of motorcycles, clogging streets as they fled to high ground.

Buildings shook for four minutes and there were reports of people jumping from windows in a desperate attempt to escape. Patients also poured out of hospitals, some with drips still attached to their arms. In some places, electricity was briefly cut. There were also scenes of panic in Bangalore, India and Columbo in Sri Lanka as terrified people fled their homes and offices.

Then, two hours later, a massive aftershock - with a similarly huge magnitude of 8.2 - struck only 110 miles further out to sea, unleashing even more panic. Tsunami waves, measuring 3ft in height, hit Sumatra, the island Aceh is on. But experts discovered that both quakes were the wrong type to issue a disaster and the warnings were lifted.

Roger Musson, seismologist at the British geological survey who has studied Sumatra's fault lines, said the earthquake was a strike-slip quake. The tsunami triggering 9.1-magnitude earthquake of seven years go - which killed 230,000 people, three quarters of whom lived in Aceh - was a thrust quake, which causes the sea bed to flip up.