# Major Earthquake off Indonesia

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-earthquake-off-indonesia/618457>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [April 11, 2012, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-earthquake-off-indonesia/618457 "2012-04-11T11:11:15Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\
**Post date:** [April 11, 2012, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-earthquake-off-indonesia/618457/1 "2012-04-11T11:11:15Z")

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[CNN story here](http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/11/world/asia/indonesia-earthquake/index.html?hpt=hp_t1).

It measured 8.6, hit about 270 miles southwest of Banda Aceh, the same area that was devastated by a tsunami in 2004. No damage or injury reports yet, but there is a tsunami alert for the entire region. No actual tsunami has been detected yet.

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**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\
**Post date:** [April 11, 2012, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-earthquake-off-indonesia/618457/2 "2012-04-11T11:38:43Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> A second quake, magnitude 8.2, occurred off the west coast of Sumatra about two hours later, the USGS said.  
> Gary Gibson from the Seismology Research Center in Melbourne, Australia, said the location of the second quake reduces the possibility of a tsunami.

Why would that be? The article doesn’t make it clear. It does say that “The earthquake appears to have involved a horizontal movement rather than a vertical movement, so it is less likely that it will generate a tsunami”, but that’s not the same thing.

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**Author:** ![Courk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/91b2a8/32.png) [@Courk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Courk)\
**Post date:** [April 11, 2012, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-earthquake-off-indonesia/618457/3 "2012-04-11T12:07:19Z")

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I wonder if it’s something like it creates a second wave that can interfere with the first.

[USGS site](http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/usc000905e.php) if anyone’s interested .

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**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\
**Post date:** [April 11, 2012, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-earthquake-off-indonesia/618457/4 "2012-04-11T19:30:30Z")

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I’ll be interested in an explanation from the relevant experts as to why such big undersea quakes apparently haven’t generated significant tsunamis.