BANGKOK, March 29 (UPI) -- Thailand's Meteorological Department called off a tsunami warning early Tuesday after Monday night's Indian Ocean earthquake caused evacuations and panic.
Evacuated residents and tourists were allowed to return home after the department announced at around 3 a.m. that it was confident there would be no tsunamis.
People in the coastal areas closest to the epicenter of the 8.7-strength earthquake had been evacuated when the department issued a tsunami warning shortly after the quake occurred.
The evacuation had been completed in about an hour despite public panic and traffic jams along the way to the highlands, TNA news agency reported Tuesday.
Other countries ravaged by the Dec. 26 tsunami also issued similar tsunami warnings to their people.
