The most serious of these was an 8.4-magnitude quake with an epicenter off the western coast of the island of Sumatra on September 12. The quake caused the deaths of at least nine people.

One of Sumatra's provinces, Bengkulu, has the dubious distinction of being the world record holder for earthquake activity, with over 694 tremors with magnitude of 4.6 or higher in the first five months of last year.

Indonesia is located in the seismically active Pacific Ring of Fire, and suffers frequent earthquakes, as well as tsunamis set off by powerful underwater quakes.

On December 26, 2004, an earthquake off the coast of Sumatra, measuring 9.0 on the Richter scale, generated a huge tsunami that killed more than 275,000 in a dozen nations, the majority in Indonesia's Aceh province. - RIA Novosti