Seismic Hazard Map, Indonesia
Indonesia consists almost entirely of island arcs raised by tectonic and volcanic activity during the long collision of the Australian and Eurasian plates. Only the great island of Borneo is largely continental. The immense arc of the Greater and Lesser Sunda islands, from Sumatra to Timor at the farthest southern point, is a major source of subduction-related seismicity. And as the world learned from the M9.0 earthquake of 26 December 2004 off Sumatra's western tip, this arc constitutes a great tsunami hazard to the entire Indian Ocean to its south and west. If a map of volcanic hazard could be made of Indonesia, much of it, too, would be dark red.
Learn the story behind this historic map. Map from Global Seismic Hazard Assessment Program.
