A seismologist says two moderate earthquakes have hit India's Andaman Islands, but no serious damage or injuries have been reported. Ajay Kumar, a seismologist at the Indian Meteorological Department, says local residents were shaken Sunday by magnitude 6 and 5.6 quakes that hit the region within 35 minutes. “The earthquake lasted for about 6-7 seconds,” said Sanjay Mandal, a local hotel owner. “My customers ran out into the open.” Power went off briefly in some parts of the town. “No loss of life or any damage has been reported so far,” S.N. Jha, chief of Andaman's disaster control cell, said. The remote islands off the east coast of India were among the regions devastated by the Indian Ocean tsunami that hit Dec. 26, 2004. The tsunami, caused by a magnitude 9 earthquake off the coast of Indonesia, killed nearly 11,000 people in India – 3,500 of them in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
