The populated island of java, Indonesia was struck by a magnitude 7.6 earthquake, around 10 AM GMT on September 30, 2009. The earthquake registered some 33 miles from Padang, the capital city of West Sumatra. A tsunami watch has been issued by the pacific Tsunami Warning Center of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for Indonesia, India, Thailand and Malaysia. This earthquake has claimed close to 60 lives, dozens of missing persons and more than 10,000 damaged buildings.
Indonesia faces regular earthquakes and it is located on an arc of fault lines known as "the ring of fire", which is surrounding the Pacific Basin, which is highly prone for volcanic eruptions and frequent movements of tectonic plates, resulting into earthquakes.
