The first of the 2009 Sumatra earthquakes () occurred on 30 September off the coast of
Sumatra
Sumatra () is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the list of islands by area, sixth-largest island in the world at 482,286.55 km2 (182,812 mi. ...
,
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...
with a
moment magnitude of 7.6 at . The epicenter was west-northwest of
Padang
Padang () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Indonesian Provinces of Indonesia, province of West Sumatra. It had a population of 833,562 at the 2010 CensusBiro Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2011. and 909,040 at the 2020 Census;Bad ...
,
West Sumatra
West Sumatra () is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia. It is on the west coast of the island of Sumatra and includes the Mentawai Islands off that coast. West Sumatra borders the Indian Ocean to the west, as well as the provinces of ...
, and southwest of
Pekanbaru
Pekanbaru is the capital city of the Indonesian province of Riau, and a major economic center on the eastern side of Sumatra, Sumatra Island with its name derived from the Malay language, Malay (Indonesian language, Indonesian) word for 'new mar ...
,
Riau
Riau (Jawi script, Jawi: ) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia. It is located on the central eastern coast of the island of Sumatra, and extends from the eastern slopes of the Barisan Mountains to the Malacca Strait, including s ...
.
Government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...
and authorities confirmed 1,115 dead, 1,214 severely injured and 1,688 slightly injured.
The most deaths occurred in the areas of
Padang Pariaman
Padang Pariaman Regency is a regency ''(kabupaten)'' of West Sumatra, Indonesia. It has an area of 1,343.58 km2, and it had a population of 390,204 at the 2010 censusBiro Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2011. and 430,626 at the 2020 census;Badan Pu ...
(675),
Padang
Padang () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Indonesian Provinces of Indonesia, province of West Sumatra. It had a population of 833,562 at the 2010 CensusBiro Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2011. and 909,040 at the 2020 Census;Bad ...
(313),
Agam (80) and
Pariaman
Pariaman ( Jawi: ), is a coastal city in West Sumatra, Indonesia. Pariaman covers an area of , with a coastline. It had a population of 79,043 at the 2010 CensusBiro Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2011. and 94,224 at the 2020 census;Badan Pusat Statis ...
(37).
In addition, around 135,000 houses were severely damaged, 65,000 houses were moderately damaged and 79,000 houses were slightly damaged.
An estimated 250,000 families (1,250,000 people) have been affected by the earthquake through the total or partial loss of their homes and livelihoods.
[http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/EDIS-7WSKEP]
Tectonic setting

Many of Indonesia's islands, including Sumatra, are situated within a zone of high seismic activity known as the
Ring of Fire
The Ring of Fire (also known as the Pacific Ring of Fire, the Rim of Fire, the Girdle of Fire or the Circum-Pacific belt) is a tectonic belt of volcanoes and earthquakes.
It is about long and up to about wide, and surrounds most of the Pa ...
. Along the
Sunda megathrust, the
Indo-Australian plate is being
subducted beneath the
Eurasian plate. The subduction creates regular earthquakes, many of them of
megathrust type. Specifically the
Sumatra
Sumatra () is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the list of islands by area, sixth-largest island in the world at 482,286.55 km2 (182,812 mi. ...
n segment is currently experiencing a period of increased activity that began with the catastrophic
2004 Indian Ocean earthquake
On 26 December 2004, at 07:58:53 local time (UTC+07:00, UTC+7), a major earthquake with a magnitude of 9.2–9.3 struck with an epicenter, epicentre off the west coast of Aceh in northern Sumatra, Indonesia. The Submarine earthquake, undersea ...
. Each earthquake of the sequence adds additional stresses to segments of the plate boundary that have not moved recently.
Earthquakes
Because of its depth and the computed
focal mechanism
The focal mechanism of an earthquake describes the Fault (geology)#Slip.2C heave.2C throw, deformation in the Hypocenter, source region that generates the seismic waves. In the case of a Fault (geology), fault-related event, it refers to the ori ...
, the first earthquake is thought to have resulted from deformation within the mantle of the descending
Australian plate
The Australian plate is or was a major tectonic plate in the eastern and, largely, southern hemispheres. Originally a part of the ancient continent of Gondwana, Australia remained connected to India and Antarctica until approximately when Indi ...
, rather than from movement on the plate boundary itself.
A second event, which measured 6.6 , struck the province of
Jambi
Jambi is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the east coast of central Sumatra
Sumatra () is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the list of i ...
in central Sumatra, 08:52:29 local time on 1 October 2009 at a depth of , about 46 kilometres south-east of
Sungaipenuh. Although it was in the same region, the United States Geological Survey specified that it was not an aftershock, as it was located too far from the initial quake.
The second earthquake has been linked to dextral (right-lateral) movement on the Great Sumatran fault, which takes up the
strike-slip
In geology, a fault is a planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of rock across which there has been significant displacement as a result of rock-mass movements. Large faults within Earth's crust result from the action of plate tectonic ...
component of the convergence between the two plates.
[
]
Effects
Tremors from the first earthquake were felt in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta
Jakarta (; , Betawi language, Betawi: ''Jakartè''), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta (; ''DKI Jakarta'') and formerly known as Batavia, Dutch East Indies, Batavia until 1949, is the capital and largest city of Indonesia and ...
, Malaysia
Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...
and Singapore
Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...
. The management of some high-rise buildings in Singapore evacuated their staff.
A tsunami
A tsunami ( ; from , ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and underwater explosions (including detonations, ...
watch was triggered and there was reports of house damage and fires. Hotels in Padang were destroyed, and communications to the city were disrupted.
Local news channel Metro TV reported fires in Padang where residents had run onto the streets as the first quake hit. Teams of rescuers from nearby branches of the National Search and Rescue Agency were deployed to Padang. It was also reported that some water pipes in Padang were broken and there was flooding in the street. There were reports that at least two hospitals and several schools collapsed.
There were landslides and collateral debris flows in the hills surrounding Lake Maninjau. The landslide in Gunung Nan Tigo, Padang Pariaman district completely destroyed some villages and caused many fatalities. Landslides also forced some roads to be closed.
Padang's Minangkabau International Airport
Minangkabau International Airport is an airport serving the province of West Sumatra on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia. It is located at Ketaping, Padang Pariaman Regency which is about 23 km north-west of Padang, Indonesia, Padang city ...
suffered minor damage, with parts of the ceiling in the boarding area falling down. The airport reopened on 1 October.
Response
Authorities announced that several disaster management
Emergency management (also Disaster management) is a science and a system charged with creating the framework within which communities reduce vulnerability to hazards and cope with disasters. Emergency management, despite its name, does not actua ...
teams were en route to Padang
Padang () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Indonesian Provinces of Indonesia, province of West Sumatra. It had a population of 833,562 at the 2010 CensusBiro Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2011. and 909,040 at the 2020 Census;Bad ...
although it took several hours for them to reach more remote areas. Rescue workers pulled dozens of survivors from the rubble and rushed them to Djamil Hospital. The hospital itself was overwhelmed with patients, and many patients were treated in tents set up outside the hospital. A man was trapped beneath a flattened hotel for 25 hours with a broken leg before rescue workers pulled him free. The Indonesian military deployed emergency response teams with earth moving equipment to help move rubble and recover trapped victims. Rescue workers and volunteers searched the rubble of a collapsed three-story concrete building, rescuing survivors and recovering bodies while parents of students trapped inside waited nearby. Indonesian villagers used their bare hands to sift through ruins and try to find survivors. On 5 October, Indonesian rescue workers called off their search for trapped survivors and increased efforts to recover bodies, clear rubble, and provide aid to survivors. Indonesian authorities used helicopters to airdrop food and blankets into remote areas, and to bring the wounded from these areas to hospitals.
World Vision, Oxfam
Oxfam is a British-founded confederation of 21 independent non-governmental organizations (NGOs), focusing on the alleviation of global poverty, founded in 1942 and led by Oxfam International. It began as the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief ...
, IFRC
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is a worldwide humanitarian aid organization that reaches 160 million people each year through its 191 member National Societies. It acts before, during and after disast ...
, Muslim Charity and Mercy Corps confirmed that they would fly their emergency response teams to the devastated Padang area for rapid assessment of the catastrophe. The Red Cross sought donations to help cover earthquake relief costs. World Vision also airlifted 2,000 collapsible water containers and distributed them immediately to the area most affected by earthquake. Additionally World Vision launched US$1 million appeal for the relief effort.
;Countries that sent aid
Below is the table of countries that sent or pledged aid for Indonesia
See also
* List of earthquakes in 2009
* List of earthquakes in Indonesia
References
External links
Rescue efforts continue in Indonesia
– On Demand News
Indonesia quake deaths pass 1,000
– BBC News
BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sumatra Earthquakes, 2009
Earthquakes in Sumatra
2009 earthquakes
2009 tsunamis
2009 earthquakes
Earthquake clusters, swarms, and sequences
Earthquakes in Indonesia
September 2009 in Indonesia
2009 earthquakes
Landslides in Indonesia
2009 disasters in Indonesia