Tsunami watch downgraded

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center has downgraded a tsunami watch for the Indian Ocean following a 7.5-magnitude earthquake near India's Nicobar Islands, saying only India was at risk.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center had immediately issued a tsunami watch for India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand and Malaysia. But about an hour later, all watches - except for India - were canceled. "There is the possibility of a local tsunami that could affect coasts located usually no more than a hundred kilometers from the earthquake epicenter," the center said.

If a tsunami was in fact generated, it would have hit the Great Nicobar island of the Nicobar Islands, according to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.

The earthquake magnitude was initially measured at a 7.7 on the Richter scale, but a geophysicist at the United States Geological Survey said they were in the process of downgrading it to a 7.4 or 7.5.