Earthquake south of Medan, Indonesia

January 16, 2006

Two moderate earthquakes occurred off the island of Nias, on the west Coast of Sumatra. The first earthquake at 5:47 am on Saturday was a 5.0 magnitude centered 30 km below the ocean floor. Twelve hours later the same magnitude quake occurred in the same area.

Neither quake caused any panic on the island that is located in an area of the Pacific Ocean known as "The Ring Of Fire"; panic wouldn't be unexpected because Indonesia was the scene of the Boxing Day 2004 tsumni.

The area of the pacific ocean is referred to as "The Ring of Fire" because of several unstable fault lines located there, and any one is expected to cause a major quake bringing massive tidal waves to the coastlines encircling the pacific.