Indonesian Earthquake – 7.9 of the Richter scale

INDONESIA was struck by a huge earthquake on March 2 with the magnitude of 7.9 on the Richter scale. Sumatra, off the west coast of Indonesia is where the shallow earthquake originated report US Geological Survey. 

A number of alerts, including Tsunami alerts have been issued for parts of Indonesia and Australia, including West Sumatra, North Sumatra, Aceh, Christmas Island and Cocos Island. 

The epicentre is located 502 miles south-west of Padang and was six miles deep. So far, no reports of immediate damage or casualties have been surfaced. 

Indonesia was badly hit by the infamous Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004. It’s location spans the “Pacific Ring of Fire”, a zone of intense seismic activity. It is a meeting place for a number of different plates on the earth’s crust and therefore a large number of earthquakes and volcanoes develop.