TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - There are similarities present between the destructive twin earthquakes in Venezuela—which have killed over 2,000 and injured 11,000 more—and other quakes happening across the globe this past week.
One such earthquake is the one hitting Mindanao, Philippines. "The global seismicity map shows the dominance of tectonic activity concentrated along the Pacific Ring of Fire belt," said Daryono, a member of the Indonesian Disaster Experts Association, in a statement shared today, Thursday, July 2, 2026.
He detailed the most significant of strong earthquakes over the past seven days, which happened in Yumare, Venezuela. The region was rocked by a doublet with magnitudes of 7.2 and 7.5, occurring only 39 seconds apart.
Both earthquakes were triggered by a strike-slip fault activity. "The ground acceleration was strong and destructive, causing massive structural damage in the affected area, leading to the deaths of thousands of people," said Daryono.
After Venezuela, Japan experienced two significant seismic events, namely a magnitude 6.9 earthquake in Kuji on June 25, 2026, and a magnitude 6.0 tremor in Iwate on July 1, 2026. These two earthquakes, Daryono explained, are a manifestation of the subduction process of the plates associated with the megathrust zone.
Unlike the ones in Venezuela, the epicenter of the earthquakes in Japan was relatively deeper and underwater. "So despite the energy released, the resulting tremors did not cause any damage or tsunami."
A strong earthquake also shook Mindanao, Philippines, on June 26, 2026. Unlike in Venezuela and Japan, the magnitude 6.5 earthquake in Mindanao was classified as an intra-slab earthquake, caused by rock deformation within the plate. Although it did not cause infrastructure damage, the magnitude did cause panic among residents due to the strong local tremors.
The hypocenter (the depth of the earthquake) was also relatively deep, indicating no potential for a tsunami. It is worth noting that this earthquake occurred after the previous 7.8-magnitude shaking hit Mindanao on June 8, which resulted in 81 deaths and over a thousand injuries.
At that time, the earthquake even triggered a small tsunami reaching the Indonesian region.
The most recent strong earthquake in the past week was a magnitude 6.1 earthquake in Jurm, Afghanistan, which struck on June 27, 2026. It was caused by deformation of the earth's crust.
"Although the epicenter was in a sparsely populated area, the seismic wave propagation from this earthquake traveled far enough to be felt with strong intensity in Kabul and the Pakistan region," said Daryono.
According to him, all the series of strong earthquakes reaffirm the high tectonic dynamics along the Pacific Ring of Fire. Every seismic zone in the volcanic belt surrounding the Pacific Ocean has unique source mechanism characteristics with impacts that highly depend on the depth of the earthquake center and the geological conditions of each area.
Pacific Ring of Fire. Photo by Wikipedia
"Preparedness must be the top priority for people residing in these active zones," said Daryono. Mitigation not only includes the structure of buildings but also extra vigilance towards natural tsunami signs.
"Immediate self-evacuation to high ground without waiting for official early warnings," he added.
According to the geography Ph.D. and former Director of Earthquakes and Tsunamis at BMKG, the Pacific Ring of Fire is indeed more active compared to the other two ring belts, namely the Alpide Belt and the Mid-Ocean Ridge System.
The first one stretches from the Mediterranean region, Turkey, Iran, the Himalayas to Southeast Asia (Sumatra, Java, and Nusa Tenggara). The second one is a line of oceanic ridge spreading, such as in the Atlantic Ocean.
The Pacific Ring of Fire itself covers Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines, Alaska, the west coast of America, New Zealand, and other surrounding areas of the Pacific Ocean. Almost all of them are the boundaries of tectonic plates that collide and subduct, known as subduction zones. This is where most major earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur.
"About 90 percent of the world's earthquakes and about 75 percent of active volcanoes above land are located in the Pacific Ring of Fire region," said Daryono.
Read: What is the Pacific Ring of Fire and Which Countries Does It Affect
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