Earthquake Hits Sumatra

A 6.2 magnitude undersea earthquake struck off the western Indonesian island of Sumatra yesterday but the state meteorology and geophysics agency said its epicentre was too deep to cause any damage.

I find it quite disturbing that the number of earthquakes coupled with high activity in recent months could be a build up to a big disaster and one on a larger scale that that of the tsunami in Aceh and the recent earthquake in Yogyakarta.

Earthquakes are frequent in Indonesia, the worlds fourth most populous country. Its 17,000 islands sprawl along a belt of intense volcanic and seismic activity, part of what is called the 'Pacific Ring of Fire'.

And now, according to news sources, the activity of Gunung Merapi has increased dramatically with hot ash clouds spewing from the mountain and streams of molten lava flowing down its slopes in all directions.

What I do find interesting though, however, is that all this seismic activity and volcanic disturbance seems to have bypassed the island of Bali. Most of these activities have occurred to the east in Nusa Tenggara west and east, west to Java and Sumatra, and north to the other islands such as Sulawesi and the Maluku islands.

Gunung Agung, home to the mother temple Besakih, has yet to register any significant activity. I find this quite strange considering all the other activity in the archipelago. Let us just hope that the holy mountain does not erupt because that would be a further blow to the already stumbling tourism trade.