Sri Lanka's Disaster Management Center (DMC) on Wednesday said it was closely monitoring the aftermath of a 7.8-magnitude earthquake which struck off the southwest coast of Sumatra island in the Indian Ocean on Wednesday evening.

Officials from the DMC told Xinhua that there was no immediate threat of tsunami to Sri Lanka but the center would be on alert.

"We are closely monitoring the situation. However, there is no threat of a tsunami as yet," an official said.

The size and depth of the quake has led national authorities to issue tsunami warnings, though the Australian authorities stressed that sea level observations have not yet confirmed whether a tsunami has been generated.

Sri Lanka was one of the countries struck by the tsunami resulting from the Indian Ocean earthquake on December 26, 2004. On January 3, 2005, Sri Lankan authorities reported 30,196 confirmed deaths. Endit

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