another indonesian earthquake

And We will most certainly try you with somewhat of fear and hunger and loss of property and lives and fruits; and give good news to the patient,
Who, when a misfortune befalls them, say: Surely we are Allah’s and to Him we shall surely return.
Those are they on whom are blessings and mercy from their Lord, and those are the followers of the right course. (QS. Al Baqarah 155-157)

Earthquake Details

Magnitude	7.6 SR
Date-Time	Wednesday, September 30, 2009 at 10:16:09 UTC Wednesday, September 30, 2009 at 05:16:09 PM at epicenter Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
Location	0.789°S, 99.961°E
Depth	80 km (49.7 miles) set by location program
Region	SOUTHERN SUMATRA, INDONESIA
Distances	45 km (30 miles) WNW of Padang, Sumatra, Indonesia 220 km (135 miles) SW of Pekanbaru, Sumatra, Indonesia 475 km (295 miles) SSW of KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia 960 km (590 miles) NW of JAKARTA, Java, Indonesia
Location Uncertainty	horizontal +/- 8.9 km (5.5 miles); depth fixed by location program
Parameters	NST= 42, Nph= 42, Dmin=521.5 km, Rmss=1.28 sec, Gp= 47°, M-type=teleseismic moment magnitude (Mw), Version=8
Source	USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)
Event ID	us2009mebz

Tectonic Summary

The magnitude 7.6 southern Sumatra earthquake of September 30, 2009 occurred as a result of oblique-thrust faulting near the subduction interface plate boundary between the Australian and Sunda plates. At the location of this earthquake, the Australian Plate moves northeast with respect to the Sunda plate at a velocity of approximately 65 mm/yr.

On the basis of the currently available fault mechanism information and earthquake depth of 80 km, it is likely that this earthquake occurred within the subducting Australian Plate rather than on the plate interface itself. The recent earthquake was deeper than typical subduction thrust earthquakes that generally occur at depths less than 50 km.

The subduction zone surrounding the immediate region of this event has not witnessed a megathrust earthquake in the recent past, rupturing last in an earthquake of M 8.5 or larger in 1833. Approximately 350 km to the south, a 250 km section of the plate boundary slipped during an Mw 8.4 earthquake in September 2007, while approximately 300 km to the north, a 350 km section slipped during the Mw 8.7 earthquake of March 2005. In early 2008, the plate boundary updip of today’s earthquake was active in a sequence of Mw 5-6 earthquakes. It is not clear how today’s earthquake is related to the sequence of megathrust subduction zone events on the shallower section of the plate boundary.