Indonesia earthquake are fairly common as the country falls in the seismic zone. Over the years many earthquakes in Indonesia have caused severe damage to life and property in the country. The death toll of every earthquake in Indonesia is high and often followed by tsunamis. There are many reasons behind Indonesia being affected by earthquakes so often. One of the main reasons might be that the country is placed in the ‘ring of fire’ due to which there are number of volcanoes in Indonesia. There are about 120 volcanoes in Indonesia which are active. These earthquakes in Indonesia have affected its economy in a major way. The country is in need of constant foreign economic assistance due to these natural calamities. Some of the institutions which provide information about earthquakes in Indonesia and sometimes issue prior warning are Badan Meteorologi dan Geofisika, ASEAN Earthquake Information Center and Volcanological Survey of Indonesia.
Some of the major Indonesia earthquake which were responsible for extreme calamities are a quake in Flores Region of magnitude 7.5 which happened in 1992, in 1996 a quake at the Irian Jaya region of magnitude 8.1, in 2002 at Sumatra the quake of magnitude 7.4 and in Java twice in 2006 of magnitudes 6.3 and 7.7. The major earthquake to hit Indonesia and even the world was on 26th December 2004. The magnitude of this earthquake was 9 on the Richter scale. The most recent earthquake in Indonesia occurred in Southern Sumatra on March 6th 2007 of magnitude 6.4.
