NATURAL DISASTERS

Natural Disasters



Natural Disasters

Article # 1 Indonesia Earthquake 2012: Aftershock Measuring 6.5 Richter Scale Felt By: International Business Times, International Business Times, Wed, 11 Apr 2012

Summary: According to this news article five people died of heart attacks after Wednesday's powerful earthquake off the Indonesian island of Sumatra, which caused a tsunami warning lifted quickly in the absence of significant wave, officials said Thursday from official sources. Five people died of heart attacks. Most of them were elderly, with the exception of a 39 year old man. The earthquake, of magnitude 8.6, occurred Wednesday off the coast of Sumatra triggered a tsunami alert across the Indian Ocean, but was soon raised about the lack of significant wave.

The earthquake has not caused less panic, reviving the specter of the tsunami that had 220,000 people on the shores of the Indian Ocean on 26 December 2004, including 170,000 on the only island of Sumatra. The peasants were returned to their fields and students at school, while the shops were open as normal. We could see no obvious signs of damage, apart from the wall of a prison that has partially collapsed, causing no injuries.

The death toll from the quake of 7.3 magnitude on the Richter scale occurred on the Indonesian island of Java, increased to 32 and injured 112, as dozens of people are missing and about a thousand 200 houses were damaged. The victims, most of whom died from landslides and under the rubble of buildings, residing in the cities of Tasikmalaya, Cianjur, Garut and Bandung, all in West Java province, according to the National Disaster Indonesia. In Tasikmalaya, many houses, the mayor and a mosque were damaged or destroyed while in Bandung; several buildings were also damaged, according to witnesses cited by the Japanese agency Kyodo News.

The National Message Mitigation warned that the death toll could rise as relief efforts move forward because there are many buildings collapsed or damaged in West Java. The U.S. Geological Survey, which monitors seismic activity worldwide, said at first that the earthquake was 7.4 on the Richter scale but later said it was 7.0, but Indonesia's Meteorological Agency determined the quake at 7.3 degrees.

The quake, whose epicenter was located in the Indian Ocean about 50 kilometers deep and 200 kilometers southwest of Jakarta, was felt in the Indonesian capital causing panic among the population. The quake was felt as far away as Surabaya, the second largest city in Indonesia, about 500 kilometers northeast of Tasikmalaya, and on the resort island of Bali, about 700 kilometers east.

Article # 2 Indonesia Tsunami Warning 2012: 8.7 Earthquake, Huge Aftershock Strike Fear On Wednesday By: International Business Times, International Business Times, Wed, 11 Apr 2012

Summary: According to this news article, the tremors have been recorded in north-west of the country in the region of Aceh (Sumatra). Data on victims and survivors there has yet been received. It is reported that the population of coastal villages in panic, running ...