Ternate seismic region where active volcanic activity and frequent earthquakes are common. Ternate belongs to a group of islands that make up the Ring of Fire, known as the Circum-Pacific Belt. Around 90% of the world’s earthquakes and seismic activity occur in this arc in the base of the Pacific Ocean. The region consists almost entirely of an uninterrupted chain of volcanic arcs and oceanic trenches, and experiences continual plate movement. There are 452 volcanoes in the Pacific Ring of Fire, accounting for 75% of the world’s dormant and active volcanoes. Ternate is dominated by the volcanic Mount Gamalama (1715 m).
USS Merapi (AF-38) Galveston Dry Dock Co., "Merapi" hastened through shakedown and departed Mobile, Alabama, 11 April, for the Pacific Ocean war zone. Specializing in refrigerated stores, she sailed via Pearl Harbor to Kerama Retto, Okinawa where in the midst of numerous air alerts she unloaded 14 to 19 June. Having retired to Pearl Harbor for more supplies she got underway again on 20 July and spent the final month of the war at Eniwetok Atoll disbursing cargo. In the postwar period "Merapi" provided logistic support for U.S. occupation forces, initially using Auckland, New Zealand, as her supply base. Spending much of 1946