NEW DELHI ? A strong 6.4-magnitude earthquake hit off India's Andaman Islands early Tuesday, seismologists said, but no widespread tsunami was expected.

The quake struck at a depth of 127 kilometers (80 miles), said the US Geological Survey (USGS), with the epicenter 120 kilometers from Port Blair on the Andaman Islands, which are located in the Bay of Bengal.

The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said there was a very small possibility of a local tsunami near the center but no threat of a destructive widespread tsunami.

Myanmar lies to the north of the Andaman Islands and Indonesia to the south.

New Delhi is more than 2,500 kilometers away to the northwest.

The Andamans were badly hit by the 2004 Asian tsunami, which was triggered by an earthquake off the Indonesian island of Sumatra that sent giant waves crashing into countries around the Indian Ocean.

The Andaman Sea area witnesses frequent earthquakes caused by the meeting of the Indian plate with the Burmese microplate along an area known as the Andaman trench.