Earthquake hits northern Sumatra
11 April 2012
An earthquake of 8·7 magnitude has once again rocked northern Sumatra, but without the devastation that the region suffered in 2004.
The epicentre is reported to be some 20 miles beneath the Indian Ocean floor and 380 miles from Banda Aceh, the town that suffered the most damage in the 2004 earthquake and tsunami.
However, this latest quake is unlikely to generate a large scale tsunami.
British Geological Survey seismologist Roger Musson told the BBC that it was unlike the quakes seen off Indonesia in recent years, where ground had been pushed under the continental plate, "flipping up" the seabed. "It seems to be a large earthquake within the Indian Plate and the plate has broken in a lateral way," he said. "It's a sort of tearing earthquake, and this is much less likely to cause a tsunami because it's not displacing large volumes of water."
Simon Boxall, an oceanographer at the National Oceanography Centre, said that flooding can be expected but nothing as devastating as the 2004 tsunami.
It has since been reported that a small tsunami has reached the Indonesia coast but it was only four inches high.
Tsunami warnings are still in place, however, as more could be triggered by the 8·2 magnitude aftershock that followed.
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Briefing note: 04/12
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