Tsunami warning: No need for SA to panic

2012-04-11 15:29

Johannesburg - The Council for Geoscience said South Africa is under tsunami watch, but there was no need to panic, the SA Weather Service said on Wednesday.

This followed reports on Wednesday, that an 8.7-magnitude earthquake had hit off the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia, putting a number of Indian Ocean countries, including South Africa, on tsunami watch.

A tsunami watch meant that it was aware of the warning but that no immediate action was required, the weather service's Hannelee Doubell said.

The tsunami watch was also in effect for Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Australia, Myanmar, Thailand, the Maldives and other Indian Ocean islands, Malaysia, Pakistan, Somalia, Oman, Iran, Bangladesh, Kenya and Singapore.

Doubell said the more the distance the waves had to travel, the smaller they became.