Connecting the Dots

If you think that is a political comment on Indonesia we are sorry to disappoint you. What we are talking about is some earth shaking concerns that people in Indonesia seem to ignore.

As places go Indonesia is about the most unstable place on the planet. It has nothing to do with politics or religion, in fact it simply has to do with bad real-estate. But for the most part these problems have become part of the blur of everyday life.

When a 6.0 earthquake happens it quickly gets into the news. Buildings fall, people die, chaos erupts. But in Indonesia it may only be worth one or two sentences in the local media. The reason for this it happens so frequently, it takes about a 6.8 or better to have any significant news coverage. In fact quickly glancing at the records you will find that from roughly 2000 there has been an earthquake that has reached a 7.0 magnitude every year.

• 2000 06 04 – Southern Sumatera, Indonesia – M 7.9 Fatalities 103
• 2002 10 10 – Irian Jaya, Indonesia – M 7.6 Fatalities 8
• 2002 11 02 – Northern Sumatera, Indonesia – M 7.4 Fatalities 3
• 2003 05 26 – Halmahera, Indonesia – M 7.0 Fatalities 1
• 2004 01 28 – Seram, Indonesia – M 6.7
• 2004 02 05 – Irian Jaya, Indonesia – M 7.0 Fatalities 37
• 2004 02 07 – Irian Jaya, Indonesia – M 7.3
• 2004 07 25 – Southern Sumatra, Indonesia – M 7.3
• 2004 11 11 – Kepulauan Alor, Indonesia – M 7.5 Fatalities 34
• 2004 11 26 – Papua, Indonesia – M 7.1 Fatalities 32
• 2004 12 26 – Sumatra-Andaman Islands – M 9.1 Fatalities 227,898
• 2005 01 01 – Off the West Coast of Northern Sumatra – M 6.7
• 2005 02 19 – Sulawesi, Indonesia – M 6.5
• 2005 02 26 – Simeulue, Indonesia – M 6.8
• 2005 03 02 – Banda Sea – M 7.1
• 2005 03 28 – Northern Sumatra, Indonesia – M 8.6 Fatalities 1,313
• 2005 04 10 – Kepulauan Mentawai Region, Indonesia – M 6.7
• 2005 05 14 – Nias Region, Indonesia – M 6.7
• 2005 05 19 – Nias Region, Indonesia – M 6.9
• 2005 07 05 – Nias Region, Indonesia – M 6.7
• 2005 11 19 – Simeulue, Indonesia – M 6.5
• 2006 01 27 – Banda Sea – M 7.6
• 2006 03 14 – Seram, Indonesia – M 6.7 Fatalities 4
• 2006 05 16 – Nias Region, Indonesia – M 6.8
• 2006 05 26 – Java, Indonesia – M 6.3 Fatalities 5,749
• 2006 07 17 – South of Java, Indonesia – M 7.7 Fatalities 730
• 2007 01 21 – Molucca Sea – M 7.5 Fatalities 4
• 2007 03 06 – Southern Sumatra, Indonesia – M 6.4 Fatalities 67
• 2007 07 26 – Molucca Sea – M 6.9
• 2007 08 08 – Java, Indonesia – M 7.5
• 2007 09 12 – Southern Sumatra, Indonesia – M 8.5 Fatalities 25
• 2007 09 12 – Kepulauan Mentawai region, Indonesia – M 7.9
• 2007 09 20 – Southern Sumatra, Indonesia – M 6.7
• 2007 10 24 – Southern Sumatra, Indonesia – M 6.8
• 2007 11 25 – Sumbawa Region, Indonesia – M 6.5 Fatalities 3
• 2008 02 20 – Simeulue, Indonesia – M 7.4 Fatalities 3
• 2008 02 25 – Kepulauan Mentawai region, Indonesia – M 7.2
• 2008 11 16 – Minahasa, Sulawesi, Indonesia – M 7.4 Fatalities 6
• 2009 01 03 – Near the North Coast of Papua, Indonesia – M 7.7 Fatalities 5
• 2009 01 03 – Near the North Coast of Papua, Indonesia – M 7.4
• 2009 02 11 – Kepulauan Talaud, Indonesia – M 7.2
• 2009 08 16 – Kepulauan Mentawai region, Indonesia – M 6.7
• 2009 08 28 – Banda Sea – M 6.9
• 2009 09 02 – Java, Indonesia – M 7.0 Fatalities 81
• 2009 09 30 – Southern Sumatra, Indonesia – M 7.5 Fatalities 1,117
• 2009 10 01 – Southern Sumatra, Indonesia – M 6.6
• 2009 10 24 – Banda Sea – M 6.9
• 2009 11 08 – Sumbawa region, Indonesia – M 6.6 Fatalities 2

One of the reasons it does not get news is simply cause by natures frequent shaking of the area. Buildings that are weak and questionable have already fallen, and what remains is of solid construction. Other places in the world such as Haiti are another story where nearly a quarter million people died with a 7.0 earthquake. then comparatively Chile with a 8.8 and only a few hundred deaths.

So now if you may think that Indonesia does not get very many earthquakes you would be wrong. On average there is at least a 5.0 earthquake every week and you can link and get a RSS feed from the USGS website and they will let you know when earthquakes happen and provide you with maps and a variety of information about any seismic event.

But it does not stop there. There is a not so wonderful variety of events that also happen. There are volcanos that spew a variety of goodies from lava to mud. There is a mud volcano that is been continually erupting for about 3 or 4 years and it is continuing to turn the area into a moonscape that is not livable. It is eating village after village displacing tens of thousands. The worst part it seems that this one was accidentally man made by drilling.

So if you plan to visit Indonesia, simply plan to experience some sort of ground shaking event. The locals will be able to spot the tourist with ease as they will be the ones with a panicked look, while to the locals it is just another day in Indonesia.