This Asian country has the largest number of islands in the world: there are more than 17 thousand islands throughout the territory of Indonesia, 6 thousand of them with population. However, they are islands volcanic. We will explain below how these islands are formed and why this country was cursed by nature.
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How are these islands formed?
The formation of islands is a consequence of the movement of tectonic plates, large blocks of rocks that move due to the force of the magma in the Earth's core. In the world there are 14 major plates and 38 minor plates. This large number of islands in Indonesia is due to the fact that the country is affected by 4 of the major tectonic plates.
Therefore, there is a large volume of volcanoes and earthquakes in the region: there are more than 130 active volcanoes and 5,000 earthquakes per year in Indonesia. These volcanoes form the belt of fire that runs from the north of the island of Sumatra to the island of Timor, in the south of the country.
Fire ring
Indonesia is part of a region called the Pacific Ring of Fire, an area affected by large amounts of earthquakes and volcanoes. This ring is formed by different countries, but the most affected by the amount of active volcanoes is Indonesia. And despite these problems, the country has 260 million inhabitants, being the fourth country with the largest population in the world.
Because it is a country made up of many islands and volcanoes and because it is quite populous, it is common to have villages and to cities very close to these volcanoes, such as, for example, the cities on the island of Java, which has 45 volcanoes.
Despite being frightening to live near volcanoes, the local population sees an advantage in this, due to the minerals that are released by volcanoes, leaving the land richer for plantations. However, eruptions also bring many problems. An example of this was when there was the eruption of Semeru, in which more than 1,300 people had to move and many properties were destroyed.