Sumatran Earthquake 2009!!! BE ALERTTTT!!!!

On 30 September and 1 October 2009, there are two major earthquakes happened in Sumatran Island, both in Padang, West Sumatra and in Sungaipenuh, Jambi. The latest government report stated that the casualties is around 1100 and likely to be increased. The maps are shown below :

These happenings reminds me of one article that my mom read on local magazines a few months ago :

Gunung Api Raksasa Muncul di Bawah Laut Sumatera

Jum'at, 29 Mei 2009 - 12:03 wib  Lusi Catur Mahgriefie - Okezone

JAKARTA - Telah ditemukan gunung api raksasa di bawah laut, berlokasi di perairan barat Sumatera. Gunung raksasa itu memiliki diameter sekira 50 kilometer. Gunung itu ditemukan melalui penelitian oleh tim gabungan dari Badan Pengkajian dan Penerapan Teknologi (BPPT), Lembaga Ilmu Pengetahuan Indonesia (LIPI), Departemen Energi dan Sumber Daya Mineral, CGGVeritas dan IPG (Institut de Physique du Globe) Paris. Berdasarkan rilis yang diterima okezone, Jumat (29/5/2009), gunung api bawah laut tersebut memiliki ketinggian kurang lebih 4.600 meter pada kedalaman 5.900 meter. Kedalaman puncak dari gunung api ini berada pada kedalaman 1.280 meter dari permukaan laut. Gunung ini mempunyai lebar sekira 50 kilometer dan berada di posisi berjarak 330 kilometer arah barat dari Kota Bengkulu. Awalnya penelitian ini dilakukan, untuk mengetahui profil struktur-dalam geologi daerah perairan barat Sumatera khususnya daerah Kepulauan Mentawai, mengingat perairan ini merupakan daerah yang terkunci secara tektonik. Kondisi seperti itu memungkinkan terjadinya gempa besar dan dapat membangkitkan tsunami di kemudian hari, seperti diungkapkan secara ilmiah dari analisis para ahli kegempaan nasional dan internasional. Tujuan akhir penelitian ini adalah untuk membuat peta risiko gempa dan tsunami guna menyiapkan kemungkinan lain dari risiko bahaya bencana. Penelitian ini merupakan kali pertama dilakukan di dunia guna mengetahui perilaku kegempaan yang berkaitan dengan tsunami.(lsi) (mbs)

The article is in Indonesian. It stated that a giant volcano will be appearing soon near Bengkulu coastal area. I am not a geologist so that I do not know much about this kind of activities. I want to open discussion for scientist interested in this field. Do you think that this is just the beginning of the earthquake seasons? and What impacts are likely to affect Sumatra when this really happen? Don't you think that big coastal cities in Western sumatra such as Banda Aceh, Padang, and Bengkulu will disappear forever just like Pompeii? How about major cities in eastern sumatera and other parts of Indonesia? Will it trigger the armageddon for a whole Indonesian island?? Finally, I found an article in English Also

Giant underwater volcano found off Indonesia

Submitted by Mohit Joshi on Fri, 05/29/2009 - 11:28

Jakarta Scientist have discovered a giant undersea volcano off Indonesia's Sumatra island, the state-run Antara news agency said Friday.

The volcano spans 50 kilometres at its base with a height of 4,600 metres, said Yusuf Surachman, a director at the state-run Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology. Indonesian, American and French scientists found the volcano 330 kilometres off Bengkulu province on Sumatra while they were surveying the sea floor to study changes in its geological structure following major earthquakes in the region. "This volcano is huge and tall. There are no volcanoes of similar height on Indonesian land," he was quoted as saying by Antara. Surachman said the scientists did not know if the volcano was active. "An underwater volcano is very dangerous if it explodes," he said. Indonesia sits on the so-called "Pacific Ring of Fire," a zone of frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.(dpa)