A day after an 8.0 magnitude earthquake struck the Pacific territory of Samoa, killing 99, a 7.9 temblor flattened buildings, knocked out bridges, damaged an airport and killed at least 75 people in Sumatra, Indonesia.
This quake was about 375 miles from and occurred along the fault line that triggered the 9.1 earthquake and tsunami in the Indian Ocean near Java in 2004, which caused a tsunami and killed 232,000.
This is an area used to shaking and rolling. In February geologist Danny Hilman Natawidjaj warned that the city of Padang, near the epicenter of today’s quake, sits in front of an area with the “greatest potential for an 8.9 earthquake.”
