A tsunami watch was cancelled for South and Southeast Asia after an earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale struck in the Indian Ocean, while a second earthquake, with a magnitude of 6.6, struck in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Japan on Tuesday.

The earthquake in the Indian Ocean was centred about 262 km north of the Andaman Islands and took place at 1956 GMT, the US Geological Survey (USGS) in Denver, Colorado, reported. It struck in the early Tuesday (local time) and was 30 km below the earth's surface.