11 Earthquakes Above 7.0 Magnitude That Shook Indonesia

The Indonesian archipelago seems to be constantly shaken, and yesterday it was Situbondo, East Java's turn to be hit by a 6.4 magnitude earthquake on the Richter scale. Still fresh in memory is the September 28, 2018 earthquake in Palu and Donggala, measuring 7.4 on the Richter scale and accompanied by a tsunami. Over 2,000 people died as a result of that disaster. The previous month, Lombok was also hit by a 6.9 magnitude earthquake.

Eleven earthquakes with a magnitude above 7.0 on the Richter scale have struck Indonesia in the last 15 years. In 2004, Aceh was devastated by a 9.3 magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami. This, the largest earthquake in Indonesia in recent decades, claimed more than 160,000 lives. The impact of the earthquake also caused tsunamis in Thailand and as far as Sri Lanka. A year later, Nias was hit by an 8.7 magnitude earthquake. Most earthquakes that hit Indonesia have the potential to trigger tsunamis, but only a few actually do.

Indonesia frequently experiences earthquakes due to its geographical location in an unstable area where three tectonic plates meet: the Indo-Australian Plate, the Pacific Plate, and the Eurasian Plate. Furthermore, Indonesia lies within the Ring of Fire, a region prone to seismic activity.