8.6-magnitude earthquake in Indonesian seas on 11 April 2012: Indonesian President Says… “There Is No Threat of Tsunami after Earthquake”

- Harish Jharia 

"So far, there is no tsunami threat"… the Indonesian President  Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said on national television.

Indonesian president said today that “there was no immediate threat of a tsunami from an 8.6-magnitude earthquake that struck off Sumatra Island”.

Indonesia has issued its own tsunami warning and an Indian Ocean-wide alert was also issued earlier, after the quake.  But President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said there was no immediate threat to the island country.

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Question: Why the tsunami tides were not formed in spite of the underwater earthquake of 8.6 magnitude?

Answer: I think when the tectonic / seismic plates generate a VERTICAL knock, after the earthquake; massive tides will be generated out of the same. If the knock acts in OTHER-THAN-VERTICAL directions, the resultant tsunami tides would be shorter and weaker.

Comparison between Indonesian and Japanese earthquakes / Tsunamis:

1. April 2012: Indonesian:  8.6-magnitude: Distance 269 miles (434 kilometers) 
2. March 2011: Japanese:  8.9 magnitude: Distance 80 miles (130 kilometers) 

In addition to the assumed difference in the direction of the knocks generated at the tectonic plates, there is a difference of 0.3 between the magnitudes of the two earthquakes. The Epicenter location, 434 km, in case of the Indonesian earthquake is 304km farther than that occurred in Japan at a distance of 130 km. As a result of the above a weaker tsunami has occurred in Indonesia in April 2012.

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