On September 12th a powerful earthquake struck off western Indonesia killing at least four people, destroying several buildings and triggering a small tsunami. Within a couple of weeks another strong earthquake rattles Indonesia. Is there any reprieve for people of this nation who are suffering one natural catastrophe after another?
Wednesday September 26, 2007 6:46 PM
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - A powerful undersea earthquake rattled western Indonesia on Wednesday, officials said, but there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.
The 6.4-magnitude quake was centered 80 miles southwest of Padang, a town on Sumatra island still recovering from a series of strong tremors that killed nearly two dozen people earlier this month, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.
It struck nearly 21 miles beneath the ocean floor at 10:43 p.m., the USGS said.
Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago, is prone to seismic upheaval due to its location on the so-called Pacific ``Ring of Fire,'' an arc of volcanos and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.
A massive earthquake and subsequent tsunami on Dec. 26, 2004, killed more than 131,000 people in Indonesia's Aceh province and left a half-million homeless.
No comments:
Post a Comment