On February 20, 2008, an earthquake with a moment magnitude of 7.4 struck off the coast of Sumatra at a hypocentre depth of 26 km.

[4] The Simeulue earthquake occurred as a result of thrust faulting along the subduction zone where the Australian and Burma plates meet.

[7] Prior to this quake, that section of the megathrust was considered a seismic gap that last ruptured in 1797.

During the earthquake in 2008, a circular rupture area with a diameter of 60 km broke and slipped for 2.2 meters at its maximum.

[9][10][11] The earthquake damaged many buildings in Simeulue due to the strong ground shaking.