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No tsunami warning for SL as earthquake epicentre was inland
View(s):The Meteorology (Met) Dept yesterday said no tsunami warning was issued to Sri Lanka’s coast despite a 6.5 magnitude earthquake in Aceh Indonesia this week, as the epicentre was inland, unlike the one which resulted in the 2004 tsunami.
A senior official of the Met Dept explained that, the epicentre of the earthquake that resulted in a tsunami in 2004 was in the Indian ocean, near the west coast of Sumatra, in Indonesia, while the present earthquake occurred at Aceh, which is at the northernmost province of Sumatra. “Also, the recent earthquake was not as devastating, compared with that in 2004. Even no tsunami warning was issued to the Indonesian coast,” he added.
The death toll from the latest earthquake in Aceh exceeded 100, and official data is yet to be released. Aceh was one of the main affected areas during the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. The disaster killed 230,000 in more than a dozen countries, with 170,000 in Indonesia alone, the vast majority in Aceh.
Indonesia experiences frequent earthquakes, due to its position on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, where tectonic plates collide. Wednesday’s earthquake is Indonesia’s second major temble this year.