Earthquake With Preliminary Magnitude of 8.5 Has Hit off Aceh, Tsunami Warning for Sumatra Indonesia

Indonesia’s Geophysical Agency reported a 8.5 magnitude earthquake 503 km off the coast of Banda Aceh Wednesday (11/4/2012) afternoon.

The U.S. Geological Survey said Wednesday the quake was centered 20 miles (33 kilometers) beneath the ocean floor around 308 miles (495 kilometers) from the provincial capital of Banda Aceh.

The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) issued a tsunami tweeted for the Aceh, West Sumatra, North Sumatra, Lampung and Bengkulu.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a tsunami warning for the following 27 countries: Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Australia, Burma, Thailand, Maldives, United Kingdom, Malaysia, Reunion, Seychelles, Pakistan, Somalia, Oman, Madagascar, Iran, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Comores, Bangladesh, Tanzania, Mozambique, Kenya, Crozet Islands, Kerguelen Islands, South Africa and Singapore.

Indonesia straddles a series of fault lines that makes the vast island nation prone to volcanic and seismic activity. A giant 9.1-magnitude quake off the country on Dec. 26, 2004, triggered a tsunami in the Indian Ocean that killed 230,000 people, nearly three quarter of them in Aceh.