our country getting any safer...or not

Most of us were shocked yesterday...not just figuratively but literally...when a 8.6-magnitude quake hit 435km south west of Banda Aceh, Indonesia.

I see lots of my friends updating from Penang that they felt the tremors...When I look for the latest official report...I was quite worried because initially it was reported as 8.9...which is almost the same as the earthquake that causes the massive tsunami in Japan last year...tsunami alert was also issued, which was withdrawn later in the evening...this article explains why the quake did not cause a tsunami (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/sumatra-quake-it-took-30-minutes-to-establish-there-would-be-no-tsunami-so-the-alert-had-to-go-out-first-7639711.html)
Thankful that the earthquake didn't cause too major damage.

This event reminds me of my high school geography...Malaysia is relatively safer from earthquake and volcanoes because she is located outside the Pacific Ring of Fire...but I wonder...will we always be safe?

While the epicentre is still some distance away...it seems that recently we are feeling more of the aftershocks...and they seems to get more obvious...in 2004 when the earthquake happened off Sumatera I was resting on bed on the 2nd floor...and I felt a very slight vibration through my body...

From the stories I heard...this time we can even feel the floor really shaking and furnitures swaying...

So i wonder...is it possible that we are actually moving nearer and nearer to the Ring?...I'm no scientist but I just feel that it is possible...after all Mother Earth is not an old lady just sitting still doing nothing...she is forever dynamic...forever changing...and reacting to our every action...if got mosquito drill into your skin to extract your blood, you also will shake your body a bit lar...

I think we have to start answering some questions...

Are we prepared when disaster strikes?...the most common and severe disaster our country have to deal with is flood...which I think is a bit less acute compared to earthquake or tsunami
Are our buildings able to endure the aftershock?...mild nonetheless but still it is exerting stress to the buildings and structures...I hope they do consider that when they build

Not spreading rumours or causing panics...
I just hope we are not taking too much of "outside the Pacific Ring of Fire" for granted...
And of course I hope I'm wrong...