Earthquake Rocks Simeule Island: North Sumatra

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 volcanoes and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin. It is where the continental plates meet causing frequent seismic and volcanic activity.

A 4.7 magnitude undersea earthquake rocked Simeule Island causing a panic to people living on its coastal areas and considering what has happened in the past two years, its understandable.

The tremor was centered in the Indian Ocean 94 km west of the Simeule district capital of Sinabang at a depth of 33 km according to the Mata Ie Geophysics Agency.

In the first week of February, earthquakes measuring 3.7 to 5.6 on the Richter scale were common in Indonesia`s western-most province of Aceh Nanggroe Darussalam and on Wednesday, a mild earthquake also jolted Weh Island.

I was stunned to learn that the frequency of earthquakes hitting Aceh is recorded at 15-200 per day. However, only a few of them were actually felt by the residents in the various areas.

An 8.9 magnitude undersea earthquake and a subsequent tsunami devastated parts of Aceh on Dec 26, 2004, leaving more than 190,000 people dead.

In a related incident, the Antara News reported this morning that an earthquake measuring 3.1 on the Richter scale shook Yogyakarta special province at 2.32 a.m. Friday, making panic people ran out of their homes.

Epicenter of the one-minute tremor was traced at 7.94 degrees south latitude and 10.22 degrees east longitude and located 10 km beneath sea level, Yogyakarta meteorological and geophysics agency`s spokesperson Tiar Prasetyo said.

“The epicenter was in Opak-Oya fault that was almost similar to epicenter of a deadly tremblor which occurred on May 27 last year,” Tiar said.

The epicenter of Friday`s earthquake, Tiar said, was located south of Bantul district which was heavily destroyed by the last year`s quake.

The Friday`s quake was felt at between II to III Modified Mercally Intensity (MMI) as well, Tiar said.

The quake was clearly felt in a zone of meteorological and geophysics agency in Gamping area which was located outside the Opak-Oya fault, the spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, Ainun, a resident in Dlingo subdistrict in Bantul said people in his village which could feel the early morning`s tremor ran out of their homes for fear of similar earthquake that devastated their homes last year.

Most people in Yogyakarta are still traumatized by the last year?s quake which killed over 4,000 people and destroyed thousands of buildings and homes.

Tens of aftershocks have continued shaken Yogyakarta following the powerful quake last year.