The Sri Lankan government issued a preliminary warning for residents along the coasts to vacate out of fear of a tsunami after a magnitude-8.7 earthquake struck off the west coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra, officials said early Tuesday. Tens of thousands of Sri Lankans living in the eastern, southern and western coastal areas started leaving their homes after the warning. "We have warned the people to be alert and vacate at least two kilometres into the interior as there is a possible tsunami threat," a spokesman for the Geological and Mine Surveys Bureau said. The warning came close to midnight. Sri Lanka was badly affected by the December 26 tsunami, which claimed an estimated 40,000 lives after it hit nearly two-thirds of the coastal belt of the country. --SP 2353 Local Time 2053 GMT
