BANGKOK, Dec 27: An earthquake measuring 6.5 on the Richter scale struck India's remote Nicobar islands at 0939 GMT on Monday, but it was not clear whether it would trigger new tsunamis, a Thai seismologist said.

"An earthquake hit the Nicobar islands north of Sumatra at 4.39pm, registered by other seismologists as 6.5 on the Richter scale," a seismologist from Thailand's meteorological department said.

"We can not tell whether it would trigger a new tidal wave, but the earthquake was felt in Phuket," the Thai resort island devastated by a previous series of huge waves that also left thousands dead across Asia, he said.

The official described the quake as a "new earthquake" as it was some 200 kilometres north of the epicentre of Sunday's massive temblor off the Indonesian coast. -AFP