NEW DELHI, July 24 (Xinhuanet) -- Seven months after tsunami devastated vast tracts of coastal India, a major under-sea earthquake measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale struck the Nicobar Islands Sunday night but no loss of life or damage to properties were reported.

    In New Delhi, the central government said it was not issuing any tsunami alert as that could lead to unnecessary panic, but a close watch was being kept on the situation in the islands which is about 2,000 km off the mainland India.

    The epicenter of the quake, experienced at 9:12 p.m., was 60 kmsouthwest of Nicobar Islands and 420 km from Port Blair, the capital of the Andaman and Nicobar Island, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said in a statement.

    A.K. Bhatnagar, deputy director general of the IMD, said in New Delhi that any quake between 7.2 and 7.5 may trigger tsunami but there was no rise in sea level in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

    The science and technology minister said here that there has been no unusual activity in the sea and there was no need to panic.

    Andaman and Nicobar Governor Ram Kapse said in Port Blair that there has been no loss of death or destruction from the group of islands, according to the Press Trust of India.

    He, however, said an alert has been sounded across the island and that people have been asked to stay away from sea shores. Enditem