6.2 Earthquake in Indonesia

[Brent]

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/rec ... uspibc.php

[ohiostorm]

Good lord. Those poor people can't take too much more over there.

[Janice]

I agree. That area is really a hot spot for horrible activity. I wonder if something even bigger is not brewing?

[Janice]

Strong Quake Strikes Central Indonesia

JAKARTA, Indonesia — A powerful earthquake struck Indonesia's Sulawesi island early Sunday and panicked residents, but there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

The Hong Kong Observatory said the magnitude-6.2 quake struck at about 5:20 a.m. local time and was centered under the sea around 180 miles southwest of the city of Manado on the central island of Sulawesi.

"I was so shocked because my furniture and my roof started creaking," one witnesses in Gorantolo city told Indonesia's state news agency Antara. "When the shaking started, I immediately thought of my wife and child who were still asleep."

The agency said many people in the city fled their homes when the quake struck.

There were no reports of damage or injuries.

Indonesia is prone to seismic activity because of its location in the so-called Pacific "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanoes and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.

On May 27, a magnitude-6.3 earthquake devastated a large swath of Java Island, killing more than 5,800 people.

[Cyclenall]

My only question is, how could no one get hurt in this earthquake when another earthquake the same strength kills 5,800 people? Is the area without humans or something?

[Aslkahuna]

The earlier shock hit directly under a highly populated area (which the whole island of Java is) so a combination of poor construction and high population led to a high death toll. The most recent sghock was centered 180 miles away from the main city on the island so shaking would have been less intense. Depth of the hypocenter is also important for ground shaking is stronger for a shallow shock.

Steve

[Yarrah]

Ow my, and Sulawesi also had to cope with flooding that killed hundreds of people last week.