Is Bali In Danger of Tsunami?

Written by Bali Rental Co

The simple answer is no. The more complex answer is that there have been no tsunami’s in Bali within recorded history and it remains extremely unlikely that we will see one here soon. Even if we did, the improved methods employed in constructing Bali villas for rent means that inside you’d be safe from all but the largest of waves.

Bali is, of course, situated in the Ring of Fire and, as such, is subject to a fair amount of small quakes with only one or two per year which are noticed by more than a handful of people. These are of little concern and number around one or two per year. Many people barely notice them and sitting in your Bali villas for rent you’ll probably only notice it as a small ripple on the surface of your champagne! In twenty years of living here, the author has only experienced a couple of quakes which were of sufficient concern to move to a clear location out of doors and they were of no larger consequence.

Everyone remembers the tsunami of 2004 where more than 250,000 people lost their lives in Sumatra, in North Eastern Indonesia. At the time, Bali residents and holidaymakers were contacted by anxious relatives seeking confirmation of their safety. What most people fail to realise is how big Indonesia actually is. The site of most damage was roughly 3,000km from Bali; which is roughly equivalent to the distance between New York and Texas or London and Moscow.

Bali is geographically well protected from the earthquake hotspots of the Pacific and the Indian Ocean north of Indonesia. The sweep of the large island of Java protects the West of Bali from most of the effects of a potential Tsunami to the West and Lombok protects Bali to the East.

Most Bali villas for rent, which are close to the ocean, face Java rather than the open sea and are hence, protected. Sanur and Nusa Dua to the East are bordered by large reefs which would probably remove sufficient energy from a serious wave to render it impotent. Bali villas for rent on the ‘Bukit’, the hill at the bottom of the island and Ubud and the mountains in central Bali are at no risk whatsoever from a tsunami other than after an extinction level event – which would affect far more than Bali!