Moderate intensity quake jolts India's Nicobar Islands

NEW DELHI (AFP) - An earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale struck India's Nicobar Islands early Thursday but there were no reports of casualties or property damage, a weather office official said.

"A moderate intensity quake shook parts of Nicobar Islands," the official in New Delhi told AFP.

"We have not seen any reports of damage to property or any deaths from the area," the official said, adding that his office had not issued a tsunami warnings.

An undersea quake off the Indonesian coast measuring above 9.0 on the Richter scale triggered gigantic tsunamis in December 2004 that claimed 454 lives in the Andaman and Nicobar chain of islands.

According to official figures, 3,073 people are still listed as missing.