Will it happen here?

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It is with sadness that we read of the earthquakes which struck at Samoa and Indonesia’s Sumatra island causing untold miseries to many. At least more than 7o people have been reported killed in Indonesia and many are victims who are trapped under the rubbles of the collapsed buildings. The death toll may rise to thousands as many more are still being trapped underneath. And in Samoa, a magnitude of 8.0 is strong enough to trigger a massive tsunami causing widespread destruction with more than 100 victims already dead.

The earthquake in Indonesia which registered a magnitude of 7.6 can even be felt in KL, PJ, Penang and Johor, causing panic among residents and workers in high rise buildings to be evacuated. It must be noted that this is not the first time that we have felt earthquake tremors. We have experienced this several times before.

As tremors are caused by the movement of earth underneath and with most of our buildings not designed and built to withstand earthquake, it makes me wonder(and concern) whether the foundations of the buildings are still strong enough. If for example, each earthquake affects the foundation of the building by 5%, the strike of three earthquakes would have affected the foundation by 15%. What will happen if the next earthquake that strikes has a magnitude of 9.0 or 10.00? How many more tremors can our buildings withstand?

Have the relevant authorities taken this into consideration so that inspection of buildings can be carried out before untold calamities happen?

As Indonesia is situated in the ring of fire and it being our neighbor, there is a high possibility of further earthquakes. The notion that we do not have earthquake here does not hold true anymore. Whether it is going to happen here, only time will tell.