Explainer: Why do earthquakes cause so much devastation in Indonesia, why is this ‘Ring of Fire Country
Recently, a 5.6 magnitude earthquake wreaked havoc in Java, Indonesia. This is such a country which is also called the country sitting on the Ring of Fire belt. It constantly faces natural calamities. Earthquakes happen a lot here. When volcanoes become active, the danger of tsunamis also remains. It is said that this country faces the maximum number of disasters in the world.
Highlights
⏩ Indonesia is called the country sitting on the Ring of Fire belt.
⏩ The zone in which it is located is very sensitive to earthquakes, so there is a danger of tsunamis.
⏩ In the last 100 years, more than 150 such earthquakes have occurred here, whose intensity has been more than 07.
Indonesia is a country where natural disasters occur a lot. Recently, a 5.6 magnitude earthquake in Java caused a lot of destruction there. In this, more than 160 people have been killed, so there has been a huge loss. This year, 04 major earthquakes have occurred in Indonesia, whose intensity ranges from 5.5 to 6.6. The earthquake belt on which Indonesia is located is also known as the Ring of Fire in the Pacific region. There is always the danger of not only earthquakes but also volcanoes and tsunamis. This is a country that constantly faces natural calamities.
According to the USGS, an organization that monitors earthquake activities around the world, Indonesia has always been very sensitive to earthquakes. There have been more than 150 earthquakes of more than 07 intensity in the period from 1901 to 2019.
Here volcanoes keep on erupting continuously or become active. There are many active volcanoes in Indonesia, in which one cannot even know when they are active. Then immediately the villages of 03 to 07 km area are evacuated so that they can be saved from the flowing lava and the ash spreading with the fire.
04 years ago, a volcano erupted in Indonesia and a tsunami also came along with it. In which a large number of people were killed. About 20 meters high waves arose from this tsunami.
Earthquakes and tsunamis always occur in Indonesia.
The frequent earthquakes and tsunamis in Indonesia have again become a topic of discussion. There are frequent strong earthquakes. Since this whole country is in the form of islands on the seashore or between them, the tsunami is bound to occur here as soon as an earthquake occurs. Moreover, being situated on the seashore, there is a danger of submerging all the parts of this country due to the rise in its water level. This is the reason why Indonesia is building a new capital instead of Jakarta because Jakarta itself is expected to submerge in half in a few years.
Why do so many natural disasters happen in Indonesia?
Since then, this question is constantly in the mind of the people what is it in Indonesia where the most natural disasters occur here?
Actually, this happens in countries like Indonesia, Java, and Sumatra because this area comes in the ‘Ring of Fire’ area. This area located on the banks of the Pacific Ocean is the most dangerous land in the world.
What is Ring of Fire?
Indonesia is located in an active earthquake zone. This is the reason why so many earthquakes occur here. Indonesia is part of the ‘Ring of Fire located in the Pacific Ocean.
The ‘Ring of Fire is an area of the Pacific Ocean basin. Where many volcanoes keep on erupting and strong earthquakes occur. Due to the earthquake, the tsunami is born in the seas around it. This area of the Ring of Fire is spread over a radius of about 40 thousand km. Here are 75 percent of the world’s active volcanoes.
According to a report by the Geological Survey of America, 90 percent of the world’s earthquakes occur in this region and 81 percent of major earthquakes also occur in this region. The earthquakes coming here are directly related to the slipping of the plate below the earth. Active volcanoes are also the reason for their slipping.
The tsunami in 2004 still scares people here
Due to this earthquake and tsunami, people have remembered the devastation of the tsunami 14 years ago, when an earthquake of 9.1 on the Richter scale gave birth to a tsunami, which had a very bad effect on Sumatra. So bad that it is considered to be one of the deadliest natural disasters in the known history of the world. Its impact was on 14 countries. Indonesia also became a big victim of this tsunami. Where 1 lakh 68 thousand people died in Indonesia after this tsunami.
