Our World

Earthquake in Indonesia

An earthquake struck Indonesia early Saturday morning, about 175 miles northwest of the island of Sumatra. It hit at 3:54 a.m. and was measured to have a magnitude of 6.1. It caused many people to flea from their homes, but miraculously there was very little caos. One woman commented, "It felt pretty strong, us and our neighbors all ran outside." Luckinly enough, there was no significant damage, and the quake did not trigger a Tsunami. This area is very familiar with earthquakes. The most known of which, was the December 2004 earthquake that killed thousands. However, a little less known, but still significant earthquake struck in March of last year. That quake killed 900 in an outlying island, and measured in at 8.7.
I myself, cannot imagine living in an area that has to deal with these kinds of threats. It is one thing to have an occasional tornado once in a while here in Minnesota, but it is another to have the constant threat of severe earthquakes. I would feel helpless knowing that tomorrow or the next day could bring another Earthquake like the one experienced in 2004. In my opinion, I do not think that it is very smart to be living in these "high danger zones," however, I also understand that many of the people that live there do not have the option of going somewhere else. I hope that these people do not have to go through another Quake like 2004, and I am glad that this most resent scare did not turn out to be extremely serious.

posted by Anonymous @ 9/23/2006 07:31:00 PM