Plate Boundaries and Natural Hazards

There have been two major tsunamis, the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004 and October 2010 Sumatra earthquake on the same fault. Luckily, the Sumatra tsunami was not as disastrous, but still there were 435 mortalities and 20,000 people were displaced in Sumatra. On the other hand, the Indian Ocean tsunami resulted in 229,866 deaths in 14 countries and many more were displaced. The undersea megathrust earthquake, of magnitude 9.1-9.3, was caused when the Indian Plate was sub ducted by the Burma Plate and triggered a series of devastating tsunamis, waves up to 30 metres, along the coasts of most landmasses bordering the Indian Ocean, creating one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history. There are 15 major tectonic plates, of which the majority of plates are under the ocean. The earth’s continents are in motion due to the movement of these tectonic plates. These devastations in our recent history has lead us to closely understand and monitor the different types of plate boundaries.