Indonesia an Island Nation, No Stranger to Disastrous Earthquakes

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The country of Indonesia has been the heart of many natural disasters, primarily due to the geographic proximity to large bodies of water. Tsunamis and typhoons are frequent, as well as, small-scale to large-scale mega thrust earthquakes which results from several extremely active subduction zones. Several active subduction zones are found there, the Indian-Australian plate moving beneath the Eurasian plate, moving at a rate of about 50-70 mm per year as well as, the Pacific plate moving beneath the Eurasian plate, moving at a rate of about 100- 110 mm per year. Earthquakes that shake this nation are no strangers to the inhabitants, who are frequently interrupted of their daily lives, and have known such impacts can be disastrous.
Indonesia borders three major tectonic plates: the Eurasian Plate, the Pacific Plate and the Indian-Australia Plate. According to MCEER a research group from the University of Buffalo who study natural disasters stated that, “the country is ranked as the world’s fourth most populated nation and is made up of 13,000 islands, located around the ring of fire, and is where ninety percent of earthquakes occur” (MCEER, 2009). The region of Java, located on the coast of the Indian Ocean and the Banda Sea has been the prime location in the past years. Natural hazards pose threats towards human life as well as infrastructural damages, a few examples are: occasional floods, severe droughts, tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanoes, and forest fires. According to a study conducted by Rusnardi Rahmat Putra, Junji Kiyono, Yusuke Ono, and Hari Ram Parajuli from Kyoto University, Japan and Padang State University, Indonesia. Their study compiled data over the period from 1779-2010 and found that there had been f...

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...2009 Earthquake In
Padang, Indonesia: A Prospective Cohort Study Of Adult Survivors." Global Health Action 5.(2012): 1-11. Academic Search Complete. Web. 28 Jan. 2014.
Verstappen, H. TH. "Indonesian Landforms and Plate Tectonics." Jurnal Geologi Indonesia. 5.3
(2010): 197-207. Web. 28 Jan. 2014.
Whittaker, Andrew. "Indonesia Earthquakes 2009: News, Photos and Videos." MCEER
Earthquake Engineering to Extreme Events. the Research Foundation of the State of New York, n.d. Web. 28 Jan 2014. .
Tang, Alex K. Padang, West Sumatra, Indonesia, Earthquake of 2009: Lifeline Performance . 3.
Reston: American Society of Civil Engineers, 2013. 1-155. eBook.
United States Geological Survey. U.S. Department of the Interior . Java, Indonesia Magnitude 7.0.
United States Geological Survey (USGS), Web.

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