Thursday, November 28, 2013

Seismic death traps of the world - Bengkulu, Sumatra, Indonesia


 Now, this is totally a tsunami trap.  Not much for seismic shaking.  Here is the general setting.


As we can see, a nice clean stretch of subduction zone, ready for a 9+.  But this is a very special zone that stands out from most others.


It is right next door to the big 2004 earthquake.  You can see the power of a log scale, in that the M9.2 totally dominates in length, and an M8 is a little zit.

So the next M9 is primed.  Of course, the uncertainties are something like plus or minus a lifetime, and down there you could have a monster volcano before this quake.


The local big building looks sad for an earthquake, but these M9's don't produce much PGV.


On the other hand, that pool is going to get totally whacked with a tsunami.

As with all these cities, there are long odds that it will happen tomorrow.  Enjoy!


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