A 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck off the western coast of northern Sumatra at 12:37 local time, Wednesday, causing officials to issue tsunami warnings that were lifted two hours later. No major damage was reported, and citizens who had fled to high ground returned to their homes after the warning was cancelled.
Location of Wednesday's 7.3 magnitude earthquake. Source: USGS
The quake, estimated to be 29.1 km (18.1 miles) deep, occurred along a strike-slip fault about 100 miles from the subduction zone that marks the Indo-Australia and Sunda plate boundary. At the quake’s epicenter, the Indo-Australia plate moves north-northeast at a rate of approximately at 52 mm/year relative to the Sunda plate.
Wednesday’s event occurred 423 km (262 miles) from the provincial capital of Banda Aceh, where the December 26, 2004 tsunami claimed 167,000 lives after a 9.3 magnitude earthquake occurred 155 miles offshore.
Indonesia lies in a seismically active area of the Pacific known as the “Ring of Fire,” marked by fault lines, active volcanos and frequent earthquakes.
