West Sumatra (Indonesian: Sumatera Barat, abbreviated to Sumbar) is a province of Indonesia. It lies on the west coast of the island Sumatra. It borders the provinces of North Sumatra (Sumatera Utara) to the north, Riau and Jambi to the east, and Bengkulu to the southeast. It includes the Mentawai Islands off the coast. The capital of the province is Padang.
West Sumatra is one of the earthquake prone areas in Indonesia, due to its location in the tectonic slab located between the confluence of two major continental plates (the Eurasian plate and Indo-Australian plate) and Great Sumatran fault, plus the activity of the active volcanoes. Large earthquakes that occurred recently in West Sumatra earthquake is 2009 Sumatra earthquake and the October 2010 Sumatra earthquake.
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Famous quotes containing the word west:
“The very nursery tales of this generation were the nursery tales of primeval races. They migrate from east to west, and again from west to east; now expanded into the “tale divine” of bards, now shrunk into a popular rhyme.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)