A powerful earthquake with an initial magnitude of 8.9 has struck off the northern coast of the Indonesian province of Aceh. The quake

that struck Wednesday at first measured 8.9 but was later scaled down to 8.7 by the US Geological Survey. The Survey, which is the main documenter of earthquakes worldwide, said that Wednesday’s quake struck at a depth of 33Km and centred 495Km from the coast of Banda Aceh, the provincial capital.
A tsunami warning has been issued across all of the Indian Ocean, including Australia, Pakistan, Somalia and Madagascar.  A tsunami warning was issued across the whole Indian Ocean and many other countries. The tremor was felt as far away as Thailand, Singapore and even parts of India.
However the US Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre raised doubts about whether a giant wave had been generated by the quake. In a statement they spoke of quakes of such magnitudes \"have the potential to generate a widespread destructive tsunami that can affect coastlines across the entire Indian Ocean basin\".
Reporters on the ground have been quick to get their reactions out. Journalist Syarina Hasibuan told Al Jazeera that people panicked across Sumatra, running out of buildings and gathering in the streets.
Also the BBC\'s Karishma Vaswani in the Indonesian capital Jakarta spoke of reports of the ground shaking for up to five minutes. Also residents in the capital reported that contact with people in the immediate area around the quake has not been possible so far.
The region around Aceh is regularly hit by earthquakes. This is due to the fact that Indonesia straddles the Pacific Ring of Fire, which is a major zone of seismic activity.
The most notable recent example being the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004 killed 170,000 people in Aceh.
There were also reports of people in the region were making their way to higher ground.