Society on an Active Plate Boundary

Society on an Active Plate Boundary

In the year 2004 a devastating earthquake occurred right off the coast of Indonesia. With a magnitude of 9.3 it flattened over 225,000 people, and took its record as the second largest earthquake to be seen on a seismograph. The earthquake triggered a series of deadly tsunamis throughout the Indian Ocean. It even shook the earth so much the world moved 1cm.

Any society that lives on an active plate boundary is in danger such as the unexpected slip of the Indo- Australian plate. One of the ways that the people cope with danger is an old folklore of a past encountering. On an Indonesian island, Simeulue, the people remembered the story of a great tsunami that came after a big earthquake in 1907. When they felt the Indian Ocean Earthquake they ran for the hills, saving the entire population.

A second example of how people live with danger is by recognizing the early signs. A 10 year old girl saw receding water and bubbles which she had learned preceded tsunamis. She and her parents cleared the beach and saved many lives. A biology teacher saw the same signs and rescued a busload of vacationers to higher grounds.

A third example is to adapt after a disaster. One way that they did is the united Nations came up with a Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System. By 2005 they had it all up and running. Some have even suggested forming a new global system that would include the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean.

In many parts of the world people live with dangers. In the Indian Ocean the India Plate and the Burma Plate collide a dangerous fault line and a bad place to be. People who live in this area have shown an interesting adaptation towards the danger they face.