The Pacific Ring of Fire

When it comes to natural disaster, I think all Indonesian should work together supporting and helping our brother and sister  whenever a natural disaster occur. We can not ignore the impact of natural disaster by only screaming for our own interest outside Indonesian Embassy abroad. Begging for independence from the Dutch, US and UK is something irresponsible when our brother and sister need help. We know that our capacity in helping ourself is very low, and we need help from our ethnic brother from Molluca, Sulawesi, Nusa Tenggara, Bali, Kalimantan, Java and Sumatera, we are one brotherhood of Indonesia.

Yesterday, 10 February 2009, a series of moderate earthquakes with magnitudes of 5.6, 5.4, 5.2 and 5.0 struck Indonesia, with no report of damage or casualties, meteorology agency said.

The 5.6 quake jolted at 11:17 Jakarta time (0417 GMT) with epicenter at 181 km southeast of Gorontalo in North Sulawesi and at 10 km in depth, an official of the agency said. About three hours earlier, the 5.4 quake rocked at West Papua with epicenter at 104 km northwest of Manokwari town in West Papua and at 10 km in depth, the official said. Over five hours before the quake occur, the 5.2 quake struck at West Papua with epicenter at 89 km northwest of manokwari town and at 55 km in depth, said the official.

Some two hours earlier, the 5.0 quake rocked Aceh in western parts of Indonesia, with epicenter at 72 km southwest of Banda Aceh in Aceh province and at 46 km in depth, the official said.

Indonesia with over 230 million population sits on a vulnerable quake-hit zone so called “the Pacific Ring of Fire,” where two continental plates meet that cause frequent seismic and volcanic movements.

As a quake-hit zone country, Indonesia should put the policy of quick respond to natural disaster in priority.