NEW DELHI, Dec. 26 (Xinhuanet) -- A massive earthquake off Indonesia's Sumatra island Sunday triggered aftershocks along India's east coast, killing two people and causing tidal waves andpanic in several states, according to Indo-Asian News Service (IANS).

    Two people bathing in a pond died in the industrial township Agarpara, about 25 km east of the West Bengal capital Kolkata.

    In Chennai, the tremors started around 6:15 a.m. and continued for several minutes. Tidal waves caused flooding in the city's central areas, with waters entering the police headquarters and causing a breakdown at a power station.

    Officials said 2,000 fishermen had been evacuated and fishing hamlets along the entire Tamil Nadu coast had been affected to varying degrees, as the sea continued to rise.

    The breakdown at the power station caused a power outage across north Chennai.

    Police cordoned off the beach in Chennai, a popular destination for tourists and city-dwellers who melted away once the tidal waves hit the area Sunday.

    The tidal waves also breached the port and containers kept for loading on to ships were swept away to sea. "Containers can be seen floating all over," said a reporter of a TV news channel.

    A.K. Shukla, director of seismology in the meteorological department in New Delhi, said there was damage to many buildings in Andaman and Nicobar islands as homes, shops and offices shook and seawater rose all along the coast.

    Tremors were also reported in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Orissa.

    The quake off Sumatra measured 8.5 on the Richter scale, regarded as "great" and capable of causing serious damage in areas several hundred miles across.

    Amal Chatterjee of the meteorological office in Kolkata said water in ponds, canals and rivers leapt up to two feet in the wake of the earthquake.

    In Orissa, where the quake shook the coastal areas, people fledtheir homes and took shelter in open spaces. The quake was felt in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Balasore.

    The January 2001 earthquake of Gujarat that killed thousands measured 6.9 on the Richter scale. Enditem