Sumatra Earthquake In the Wake of Baja and Others

Phil Butler from EverythingPR

Another magnitude 7 plus earthquake struck Indonesia early yesterday morning. According to the USGS a magnitude 7.7 Earthquake shook Northern Sumatra just before sunrise Tuesday. This is the second magnitude 7 or above event in the last week, the other being the massive quake in Baja which terrified people even in Southern California.

The Sumatran quake, while intense, has apparently caused little or no damage, and not injuries have been reported. 2010 is rapidly approaching being the deadliest year for natural disasters in history.

Actually, in the last 4 days there have been three magnitude 6 or above earthquakes around the Pacific basin. The Baja quake caused the most damage killing at least 2 persons, while another 6.2 quake deep within the Mollucca Sea in Eastern Malaysia preceded this mornings more powerful event. As for the Baja event of Sunday, you can see all the seismic activity in the aftermath of this powerful quake here. As you can tell, the aftermath of such quakes causes continual activity even once the main event takes place. Literally hundreds of smaller trembles occur nearly continually.

This most recent event occurred along the same subduction zone which ruptured in 2004 when a magnitude 9.1 quake happened just 125 km North. That earthquake caused a massive tsunami which traveled across the Indian Ocean killing nearly a quarter of a million souls. The map below from the USGS reveals all the global earthquakes of any magnitude which have occurred over the last 30 days. It is important for people to understand the nature of these events, rather than simply being alarmed once they hear of such events. For those in danger zones the potential for disaster should be understood and it should be obvious being forewarned is being forewarned.