Today's Magnitude 7.7 Sumatra Earthquake
Yet another earthquake occurred today in Sumatra, Indonesia. Preliminary estimates place the magnitude at 7.7, a very large earthquake. The depth was about 30 km. Earthquakes of this size can cause damage, injuries and deaths as was seen in Haiti. A tsunami watch was issued.
It is quite likely that this earthquake is related to the magnitude 9.3 earthquake that occurred on December 26, 2004, generating a tsumami in the Indian Ocean leading to 230,000 or more fatalities. It could, in fact, be considered a late aftershock of that event. It is probably not related to the magnitude 8.8 Chile event of February 27, or the magnitude 7.0 earthquake in Haiti on January 12.
The event occurred in a high risk area previously identified on this website. A screen shot of the 1-year global forecast is below with the epicenter shown by one of the two close blue teardrops -- the large event is the teardrop in back. This screen shot, which was taken at about 0100 UTC (1700 PDT) will be updated as more data become available.
Update: The following screen shot image was created at 1100 am PDT on 7 April 2010, or 1900 UTC.
About OpenHazards Bloggers
Steven Ward is a Research Geophysicist at the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, UC Santa Cruz. He specializes in the quantification and simulation of natural hazards. Read Steve's blog.
John Rundle is a Distinguished Professor of Physics and Geology at UC Davis and the Executive Director of the APEC Collaboration for Earthquake Simulations. He chaired the Board of Advisors for the Southern California Earthquake Center from 1994 to 1996. Read John's blog.