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|
Catastrophe Report 7
February 18th to August 7th 2005 |
Earthquake - Indonesia
| Territory: |
|
Indonesia |
| Region: |
|
Sumatra |
| Date: |
|
28 March 2005 |
| Event: |
|
Earthquake |
| Impact: |
|
Islands off the west coast of Sumatra were worst
affected. On Nias, up to 300 people were killed, more than 2,000
injured and several hundred buildings destroyed. On neighbouring
Simeulue, the death toll was 100 and on Kepulauan more than
200. The total death toll is estimated at 905. At least 10 people
are reported to have died during the evacuation of parts of
the Sri Lankan coastline. More than 108,000 people were made
homeless or internally displaced. Extensive damage was caused
to infrastructure and lifelines, particularly on Nias, and low-lying
homes were flooded due to a combination of tsunami and subsidence. |
| Summary: |
|
A magnitude 8.7 earthquake occurred off the
west coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra, 245 km south-west
of the city of Medan and at the contact of the Indo-Australian
and Burma (or Sunda) tectonic plates. The quake was shallow
(~ 30 km depth) and located just 160 km to the south-east of
the rupture caused by the catastrophic magnitude 9.3 earthquake
of December 26th, 2004. It is highly likely that the latter
event transferred stress onto the fault segment to the south,
contributing directly to the second quake. The earthquake was
felt as far away as India, Thailand and the Andaman Islands,
and ground shaking reached intensity VI at Banda Aceh , intensity
V in Medan (both in Sumatra), intensity IV in Bangkok, and intensity
III in Phuket (Thailand), Singapore, and Male (Maldives). Despite
the size of the quake and its submarine occurrence, the tsunami
generated was relatively small. The port and airport on the
island of Simeulue were damaged by a 3 m wave, while tsunami
run-up heights of 1-2 m were recorded elsewhere along the west
coast of Sumatra. Small tsunami were also recorded at Colombo
(Sri Lanka) (25 cm) and in the Maldives (10 – 18 cm).
Initial observations indicated up to a metre of uplift and subsidence
along the north-west coast of Sumatra. More than 700 aftershocks
were recorded in the two days following the main shock. |
| Data sources: |
|
United States Geological Survey
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/recenteqsww/Quakes/usweax.htm
ReliefWeb
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/dbc.nsf/doc100?openForm
|
| Additional sources:
|
|
Earthquake Engineering Research Institute
http://www.eeri.org/
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