Environment

7.7 Earthquake Strikes Sumatra Indonesia April 6 2010: Maps

by Amy Judd | April 6, 2010 at 03:18 pm

8683 views | 16 Recommendations | 6 comments

A 7.7 Earthquake Struck Northern Sumatra in Indonesia and Prompted Local Tsunami Warning

At 22:15 local time on April 6 2010, a 7.7 (originally reported as a 7.8) magnitude earthquake struck Northern Sumatra prompting a local tsunami warning. At around 7am local time on Wednesday April 7, the tsunami warning was canceled.

The epicenter was located at 2.236°N, 97.046°E and was 46 kilometres deep. That is 140 miles off the coast of northern Sumatra.

At the time of the earthquake it was not expected that the earthquake would cause a dangerous widespread tsunami, but that it could cause a local tsunami. Japan's Kyodo agency is reporting blackouts on the island of Banda Aceh following the earthquake.

The earthquake would have been felt in other places such as Sibolga and Medan.

Indonesia has been struck by many earthquakes in the past, with the biggest occurring on December 26 2004 when a 9.1 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of northern Sumatra and killed over 225,000 people.

This is the region's first earthquake of 2010. In 2009 there were 10 earthquakes that were recorded in Indonesia with a number of people killed. The biggest earthquake of 2009 killed 1,117 people and occurred on Wednesday September 30. That earthquake struck Southern Sumatra with an epicenter of 81 kilometres.

The depth of the epicenter can determine how much damage the earthquake can cause. The earthquake in Haiti at the beginning of 2010 had a shallow epicenter of 13 kilometres so the shaking and damage was more severe because the shaking was closer to the surface.

Indonesia has had a longer history of earthquakes however, and some parts of the country are still struggling to rebuild from the larger earthquakes over the past five years so more shaking and damage is the last thing any of the residents there need. Frequent earthquakes also affect tourism.

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sak009 (not verified)

at 21:42 on April 6th, 2010

May be the Asia zone will meet the biggest tsunami and the highest revel of earthquake that should be in the middle of this year or before.

rumana husain

at 01:48 on April 7th, 2010

the 2004 earthquake, devastating Aceh in its wake, caused immense grief to thousands of people. on a personal note, i was in Sumatra for a conference that same year, and had come to know someone there who was from Aceh. he lost everything in that deadly earthquake...his wife, his home, his office...

akelly (not verified)

at 06:25 on April 8th, 2010

question to you guys who know Indonesia. My dad is there on business. I think he was in Jakarta. Is he at any risk? I looked at the map but he is half way across the world from me and idk the country. Also how bad was it in samatra

Bethany N Bunga (not verified)

at 20:21 on April 28th, 2010

Jakarta is nearly 900 miles from the quake. It's actually located in the nortwestern region of Java, which is the decently sized island to the south east of Sumatra. I'm sure your father will be perfectly safe. Sorry this response came so late, but I just read this tonight while looking for earthquake information for class... But hey - a late response is better than none right? Did everything turn out ok, by the way?