July 2, 2013 Earthquake: Banda Aceh, Indonesia

Felt Reports

At least 42 people killed, 2,500 injured, 6 missing and 53,339 displaced and 20,401 buildings destroyed or damaged in the Bener Meriah-Central Aceh area. One person killed by a landslide in Bener Meriah. Several landslides damaged roads, cutting off access to 9 villages. Felt (IV) at Banda Aceh, Lhokseumawe and Takengon and (III) at Medan. Felt (III) at Georgetown and Gelugor, Malaysia. Also felt at Ayer Itam, Balakong, Butterworth, Petaling Jaya, Sungai Ara and Tanjong Bunga. Felt at Phuket, Thailand.

Tectonic SummaryThe M 6.1 July 2, 2013 earthquake south of Bireun, Indonesia occurred as a result of strike slip faulting within the crust of the Sunda plate. The earthquake struck several hundred kilometers to the east of the Sunda-Java Trench, which is the seafloor expression of the plate boundary between Sunda and the Indo-Australia tectonic plates. The location and faulting mechanism of this earthquake are consistent with upper plate accommodation of the right-lateral component of oblique convergence between the two plates, which is most clearly expressed along the Sumatran Fault, a major transform structure that bisects the island of Sumatra and whose main strand lies further to the west of the July 2 earthquake. At the latitude of this event, the Indo-Australia plate moves towards the northeast with respect to Sunda at a rate of approximately 60 mm/yr.

While earthquake activity in the region is more frequently associated with thrust faulting along the subduction zone to the west of the July 2 earthquake, upper plate events in Sumatra have not been uncommon; half a dozen M6+ earthquakes have occurred within 250 km of the July 2 event over the past 40 years. Such earthquakes can be very hazardous if close to population centers - as the July 2 event was - because of their shallow depths. A M 6.7 earthquake in November 1990, 120 km to the southeast, resulted in approximately 7 fatalities.

(above from reference #1053)

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) on Sunday reported that the death toll of the earthquake in Aceh had increased to 40 from 30 as previously reported on Thursday. Spokesperson of BNPB Sutopo Purwo Nugroho on an official statement on the agency website said that as many as 2,362 people were injured, 63 were heavily injured while the other 22,125 were displaced due to the earthquake. The magnitude 6.2 earthquake cast damage to over 15,919 residential houses and 623 public buildings. Central Aceh District becomes the most affected by the earthquake with 31 dead casualties, four residents missing, and the other 19,879 were displaced and taking refuge to 70 camps spread across the district. As many as 232 out of 352 villages in the district suffered the most damage by the earthquake. The earthquake damaged 13,862 resident houses; 5,516 with heavy damage, 2,750 suffered medium damage, and 5,596 with minor damage, and also 547 public buildings such as health center buildings, schools, and administration buildings. Meanwhile in Bener Meriah District, there are only eight of 233 villages directly affected by the earthquake. The Agency reported nine resident were dead, 23 injured and 2,265 displaced due to the earthquake. There refugees needed more supply of tents and blanket as they were evacuated to makeshift camps in mountainous area in which the temperature hit 14 degree Celsius at night, Nugroho said. The earthquake cast damage to 2,057 resident houses; 662 were heavily damaged, 311 with medium damage and 1,184 with minor damage, and 76 public facilities. (reference #10658)

42 dead, 6 missing, 558 injured, 113m USD total damages (reference #13045)

48 deaths, 2532 injured, 130m USD total damages (reference #1250)