The Sumatra Earthquake In The Indonesian Islands

On December 26th, 2014 the Indonesian islands shook violently from a 9.1 magnitude earthquake. Once the earthquake began a series of chain reactions occurred that had drastic impacts across the ocean. Land was displaced, homes submerged under water, and tidal waves as high as 100m were created. With no warning systems for earthquakes or tsunamis of any kind in the area, Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka and more will feel these lasting effects. This will go down in history as one of the worst acts of mother nature in the last 100 years. The Sumatra earthquake occurred between the India, oceanic, plate and the Sunda, continental, plates. Because the oceanic plates is more dense than the continental the plate, the Sumatra earthquake was created …show more content…
More than 250,000 people have been presumed dead or missing from Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, and more (Smith). Not only was there a loss of life all around the region, but an immense amount of damage to nearby settlements and across the Indian ocean occurred. There is an estimate of 12 billion dollars in total damage ranging from homes, business, and infrastructure (Smith). Being that most people in the region live in coastal areas, entire homes were swept away in indonesia (Cluff). In parts of Indonesia and Thailand water from the tsunami surged up to 4 km inland, which would explain why these two areas saw the highest cost in damage (Saatcioglu). Not only was water sweeping away many settlements an issue, but some homes were entirely sunk a few meters under water from liquefaction. In areas near the coast during a large magnitude earthquake and long duration, the soft land will act as liquid, allowing the foundation of homes and businesses to seep into the ground(Cluff). Hopefully in the futures Sumatra citizens will think differently about living on soft land in an active earthquake zone. In total from the destruction caused to homes, 80,000 homes were deemed unlivable, displacing 500,000 people in Sumatra alone(Cluff). But Sumatra wes not the only country affected by large tsunamis. There are reports that state, millions were displaced due to the tsunamis. …show more content…
Officials realized how truly susceptible their country is to tsunamis being such a flat coastal country. On April 11, 2012 they were put to the test when a magnitude 8.7 earthquake hit Banda Aceh, Sumatra, and within a few minutes the new tsunami warning system sounded off. However that was the only precaution that worked. The people of Sumatra didn 't try to move inland and to higher ground right away. Instead they went home to gather belongings or to their children 's school to pick them up. Due to everyone not moving in a organized fashion inland traffic jams occurred in the city (Folger). Luckily for them this earthquake did not cause the ocean floor to rise, sending tons of ocean water in their direction. But instead there was only a meer horizontal shift in the crust (Folger). Had there been an actual tsunami Sumatra and other countries near by would have most likely seen the same disastrous effects from that of the 2004 earthquake. Hopefully in the future their plan will be more precise, avoiding another devastating loss of life like