Wednesday, March 07, 2007

What's up with all the earthquakes?...

Another earthquake (measuring 6.3) rocked Indonesia yesterday (March 6th). It hit the island of Sumatra and close to 70 people are dead.
Indonesia sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire.

Indonesia is already having a pretty bad year. Below are the disasters that have hit Indonesia in the last few years -

March 6: An earthquake strikes Sumatra Island, killing at least 70 people and damaging hundreds of buildings.

- March 3: Landslides triggered by days of heavy rain kill at least 40 people in eastern Indonesia.

- Feb. 1: Rivers in the capital, Jakarta, burst their banks, submerging parts of the city in water up to 12 feet deep, killing 57 and displacing 450,000.

- Dec. 29, 2006: A ferry sinks in a storm, killing more than 400 people in the Java Sea.

- Dec. 23, 2006: Heavy rain touches off floods that kill more than 100 people and displace over 400,000 on Sumatra.

- July 17, 2006: An earthquake triggers a tsunami off Java island's southern coast, killing at least 600 people.

- June 19, 2006: Floods and mud flows kill up to 300 people in southern Sulawesi province.

- May 27, 2006: An earthquake in central Java kills at least 5,800 people and injures more than 36,000.

- May 2006: A series of explosions spew hot ash down the slopes of Mount Merapi, forcing 15,000 villagers to flee.

- May 2006: A mud eruption at a drilling shaft on Java displaces more than 11,000 people and inundates villages and factories, spewing a million oil drums of muck a day.

- Jan. 4, 2006: Some 200 people are killed in a landslide on Java.

- March 28, 2005: More than 900 people are killed and tens of thousands are left homeless when an earthquake hits Nias, Banyak and Simeulue islands off the coast of Sumatra.

- Dec. 26, 2004: An earthquake sets off a tsunami that kills more than 160,000 people in Indonesia, mostly in Aceh province on Sumatra.

Source : Guardian Unlimited

Recent Indonesian quakes -

6 March 2007: Magnitude 6.3 quake hits Sumatra, at least 70 dead
18 December 2006: Mag 5.7 quake hits Sumatra, seven dead
17 July 2006: Tsunami from Mag 7.7 quake off Java kills 500
27 May 2006: Mag 6.2 quake near Yogyakarta kills 5,000
26 December 2004: Tsunami from Mag 9.1 quake kills 130,000 in Sumatra

Source : BBC News


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