'Super volcano may dwarf earthquake catastrophes'
AFP, Sydney
As Indonesians struggled to recover from the second deadly earthquake to strike them in three months, an Australian expert warned yesterday that the country faced the prospect of a "super volcano" eruption that would dwarf all previous catastrophes. Professor Ray Cas of Monash University's School of Geosciences said the world's biggest super volcano was Lake Toba, on Indonesia's island of Sumatra, site of both the recent massive earthquakes. Cas told Australian media Friday that Toba sits on a faultline running down the middle of Sumatra -- just where some seismologists say a third earthquake might strike following the 9.0 magnitude quake on December 26 and Monday's 8.7 temblor. Those quakes occurred along faultlines running just off Sumatra's west coast and created seismological stresses which could hasten an eruption. Cas said Toba last erupted 73,000 years ago in an event so massive that it altered the entire world's climate.
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