A strong earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter struck off the northeast tip of Sulawesi island Indonesia. Indonesia -a country of over 230 million people-suffers frequent earthquakes due to its location on the Pacific Ring of Fire. The Ring of Fire has 452 volcanoes and is home to over 75% of the world’s active and dormant volcanoes. The epicenter was located about 320 kilometers north-northeast of the town of Manado, the US Geological Survey said.
Northeastern Indonesia is characterized by complex tectonics in which motions of numerous small plates are accommodating large-scale convergence between the Philippine Sea and Sunda plates. In the region of today's earthquake, the Philippine Sea plate moves west-northwest with respect to the Sunda plate at a velocity of about 62 mm/year. Locally, arc-arc collision is occurring between the Sangihe and Halmahera micro plates, wedging between them the Molucca Sea micro plate, which subducts beneath both (i.e. to the east and west) and forms an inverted-U-shaped seismic zone. Seismicity within the Molucca Sea plate is active to depths of approximately 260 km to the east and 400 km to the west. The tectonic setting of this region is unique in that it is the only global example of an active arc-arc collision consuming an oceanic basin via subduction in two directions.
The earthquake occurred approximately 30 km off the western coast of the Pulau Salebabu (Indonesia) in an area that has seen large earthquakes in the past. Since 1986, there have been two earthquakes with magnitude greater than 7 in this region.(USGS)
