Great Earthquakes In Diverse Places
Earthquake rattles the Banda Sea, off Indonesia
Thursday, July 1st, 2010 at 5:20 pm
By Monica Lawrence
JAKARTA (BNO NEWS) -- A moderate earthquake struck the Banda Sea off
Indonesia on early Friday, seismologists said, but no damage was
reported.
The 5.7-magnitude earthquake at 1.57 a.m. local time (1657 GMT
Thursday) local time was centered approximately 212 kilometers (132
kilometers) southeast of Ambon Island, which is part of Indonesia's
Maluku Islands. It struck approximately 25 kilometers (15.5 miles)
deep, making it a shallow earthquake, according to the country's
Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency.
There were no reports of damage or casualties as a result of the
earthquake.
On Sunday afternoon, a moderate 5.7-magnitude earthquake struck off the
southern coast of Sumatra, an island in western Indonesia. No
casualties were reported.
Indonesia is on the so-called 'Pacific Ring of Fire', an arc of fault
lines circling the Pacific Basin that is prone to frequent and large
earthquakes. Volcanic eruptions also occur frequently.
On September 30, 2009, a 7.6-magnitude earthquake struck off the
southern coast of Sumatra, killing more than 1,100 people and injuring
nearly 3,000 people.
And in 2004, a 9.1-magnitude earthquake struck off the west coast of
Sumatra, unleashing gigantic tsunamis that killed more than 230,000
people in 14 countries. It was one of the deadliest disasters in
recorded history.