Hyderabad, Aug 11: The coastal region of Andhra Pradesh was rocked by an earthquake with its epicentre in the Bay of Bengal in the early hours of Tuesday, triggering panic among people and raising fears of a tsunami.

Several costal towns felt the quake for a few seconds at 1.25 a.m., under the impact of an earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale that struck the Indian Ocean.

People ran out of their houses and spent the early morning hours on the roads even as authorities tried to allay apprehensions of a tsunami hitting the coast.

Revenue and Relief Minister D. Prasada Rao said there was no loss of life or property due to the temblor. He urged people not to panic as experts have ruled out the possibility of a tsunami.

The minister said the US Geological Survey had issued a Tsunami alert but later withdrew it.

There were reports of two house collapsing in Krishna district but it was yet to be confirmed whether they collapsed due to the tremors, said the minister.

High tidal waves along the Bay of Bengal coast raised fears of tsunami among fishermen and people living in the coastal belt. The Visakhapatnam Cyclone Warning Centre, however, said such tidal waves were common after a quake.

"I was sleeping when I heard cries of my parents and other family members. We all ran out of the house," a girl told a local television channel in Visakhapatnam.

"We were afraid to go back to our house and remained in an open ground till dawn," said a resident of Kakinada town.

Srikakulam, Vijayanagaram, Vijayawada, Rajhamundry and Tirupati also felt the tremors.

Immediately after the quake, authorities alerted fishermen along the coast and advised them not to venture into the sea.

"Though no tsunami alert was issued, we still advised fishermen not to go into the sea as a precautionary measure," said Kishore Kumar, revenue divisional officer in Kakinada.

Meanwhile Hyderabad-based Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), which runs the tsunami warning system, has said that there is no need for panic as a tsunami is not likely to occur as a result of the quake.

"Usually aftershocks are recorded after a quake but there are no chances of another big earthquake," said INCOIS director S.C. Shenoi.

Andhra Pradesh has a nearly 1,000 km long coast line. The 2004 tsunami had hit the coast, killing about 100 people.