M 7.5 Earthquake - December 1992, Indonesia

On 12 December at 05:29 a.m. local time, an earthquake measuring 7.5 on the Richter scale occurred just north of Flores Island, 80 km north-north-east of Ende¹,². The earthquake occurred at a shallow depth (between 9 and 15 km), and triggered a devastating tsunami that struck Flores and the small island of Babi, taking 2,500 lives¹. Most badly hit was the town Maumere on the northern coast of Flores, which suffered serious damage from both the earthquake and the following tsunami². Estimates suggest that around half of the total fatalities were due to building collapse as a result of ground shaking, with the remaining 50 percent or so attributed to the tsunami³.

¹ Hidayat, D, Barker, J.S & Satake, K. 1995. Modelling the Seismic Source and Tsunami Generation of the December 12, 1992 Flores Island, Indonesia Earthquake. PAGEOPH. Vol. 144, pp 537-554

² ReliefWeb. 1992. Indonesia Earthquake Dec 1992 UN DHA Situation Reports 1-9
http://reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/OCHA-64BHB5?OpenDocument

³ Imamura, F, Gica, E, Takahashi, T & Shuto, N. 1995. Numerical Simulation of the 1992 Flores Tsunami: Interpretation of Tsunami Phenomena in the Northeastern Flores Island and Damage at Babi Island. PAGEOPH. Vol. 144, pp 555-568