Small Tsunami Hits Thai Coast after Massive Quake

Tourists and Thai residents take shelter on a high rooftop watching the ocean seeking safety during a tsunami alert in Phuket, southern Thailand, 11 April 2012. EPA/BGNES

A small tsunami measuring 10 centimeters (four inches) reached Thailand's Andaman Coast, triggered by the 8.6 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Indonesia earlier on Wednesday.

The huge quake was followed by an aftershock with a preliminary magnitude of 8.2 that shook Sumatra's western coast.

"A 10-centimetre tsunami wave generated by the first earthquake hit Koh Miang off Phang Nga," the director of Thailand's National Disaster Warning Center, Somsak Khaosuwan, has told Thai televison, as cited by international media.

Resorts on the island of Phuket have reportedly been evacuated after an Indian Ocean-wide tsunami alert.

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