A powerful earthquake off western Indonesia triggered warnings of a potentially destructive tsunami across much of the Indian Ocean region Wednesday, meteorological agencies said. The U.S. Geological Survey said the underwater quake had a preliminary magnitude of 7.9 and hit at about 6:10 p.m. (1110 GMT). It was centered 105 kilometers (65 miles) southwest of Bengkulu on Sumatra island at a depth of 15.6 kilometers (9.7 miles), it said. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami warning for wide areas of the region. «Earthquakes of this size have the potential to generate a widespread destructive tsunami that can affect coastlines across the entire Indian Ocean Basin,» it said, warning that waves could hit Indonesia and Australia within an hour. Sri Lanka and India could be struck within three hours, it was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.
