Revenge
Copyright© 2021 by Peter H. Salus
Chapter 24
“Tessa said you’d called.”
“Yes. Have you seen the news?”
“Not today. Tessa said you’d mentioned Sumatra.”
“Yes. There’s been another of those big quakes and two of the volcanoes are erupting!”
“Well, while that’s scary, it can’t come as a surprise. You got me reading about plates.”
Sumatra’s volcanism is caused by the northeastward subduction of the oceanic Indian-Australian plate at speeds of up to 70 mm/year under the continental Sunda plate (which is part of the Eurasian plate).
“Yeah. Anyway, there’s been a set – a sequence? – several big waves. I don’t think they’re tsunamis technically. And a bunch of islands west of Sumatra are flooding.”
“Yes. I can imagine that. There are over a hundred, maybe two hundred islands between Nicobar and Christmas. Which volcanoes are erupting?”
“I wrote ‘em down. Here. Sinabung and Marapi.”
“Well, Sinabung erupted when I was in school. But Marapi’s the most active volcano on the island.”
“And one with the same name on Java’s smoking.”
“Not quite the same name: Merapi not Marapi.”
“Big deal.”
“I wonder what the people there think.”
“What?”
“Well, I’m sure they’re panicky. But the vast majority of Indonesians are Islamic. And though the inhabitants of Islamic countries may explain earthquake and eruption losses in religious terms, there is little evidence to suggest that this inhibits the introduction of programs of planned loss reduction. But I’ve never heard of planning on those islands.”
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