Padang and Seismic Activity: West Sumatra

The capital of West Sumatra, Padang, is a hectic city and is the home of delicious Padang food widely seen for sale throughout the archipelago. But, Padang is also culturally rich and architecturally a beautiful city. There are still remnants of the Dutch occupation of Indonesia. The people are friendly and a longer stay is truly warranted.

However, Padang is really only a stop-off point for travellers heading to places like the inland hills of Bukittinggi and the Kerinci Seblat National Park. It is also used as an access point to the surfing sites of the Mentawai islands and Nias Islands.

But, a series of earthquakes in recent years — including one of magnitude 8.2 that struck the town of Bengkulu in September, and one off Aceh that triggered the Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2004 — show that all the different segments have released their energy, except that of Padang.