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Southeast Asia is the geographical
south-eastern region of
Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of
China, east of the
Indian subcontinent, and north-west of
mainland Australia which is part of
Oceania. Southeast Asia is bordered to the north by
East Asia, to the west by
South Asia and the
Bay of Bengal, to the east by Oceania and the
Pacific Ocean, and to the south by
Australia and the
Indian Ocean.
The region lies near the intersection of
geological plates, with both heavy seismic and volcanic activities. The
Sunda Plate is the main plate of the region, featuring almost all Southeast Asian countries except
Myanmar, northern
Thailand, northern
Laos, northern
Vietnam, and northern
Luzon of the
Philippines, while the Sunda Plate only includes western Indonesia to as far east as the Indonesian province of
Bali. The mountain ranges in Myanmar, Thailand,
Peninsular Malaysia and the Indonesian islands of
Sumatra,
Java,
Bali,
Lesser Sunda Islands, and
Timor are part of the
Alpide belt, while the islands of the Philippines and Indonesia as well as East Timor are part of the Pacific
Ring of Fire. Both seismic belts meet in Indonesia, causing the region to have relatively high occurrences of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, particularly in the
Philippines and
Indonesia.