Ring of Fire volcanic development which surrounds the shores of the Pacific from Tierra del Fuego around to the Moluccas." (Matthew Perry, "Narrative of the Expedition of an American Squadron to the China Seas and Japan, 1852-54," Introduction, Section I, "Name, Extent, and Geography") About 90% of the world's earthquakes and 81% of the world's largest earthquakes occur along the Ring of Fire. The next most seismically active region (5–6% of earthquakes and 17% of the world's largest earthquakes) is the Alpide belt, which extends from Java to the northern Atlantic Ocean via the Himalayas and southern Europe. All but three of the
Alpide belt by ongoing plate tectonics such as the Alpine orogeny. The belt is the result of Mesozoic-to-Cenozoic-to-recent closure of the Tethys Ocean and process of collision between the northward-moving African, Arabian and Indian plates with the Eurasian plate. Indonesia lies between the Pacific Ring of Fire along the northeastern islands adjacent to and including New Guinea and the Alpide belt along the south and west from Sumatra, Java and the Lesser Sunda Islands (Bali, Flores, and Timor). The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake just off the coast of Sumatra was located within the Alpide belt. Alpide belt The Alpide belt or Alpine-Himalayan