South Nias Shocked 9 Times By Aftershocks

JAKARTA - The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) reported that the coastal area of South Nias was rocked by nine aftershocks, including the latest earthquake with a magnitude update parameter (M) of 5.1.

"This earthquake is a series of aftershocks from the main M6.7 earthquake on March 14, 2022. As of March 15, 2022 at 19:37 WIB, BMKG monitoring results show that there have been nine aftershock activities with the largest magnitude M6.0," said the Head of the Center. Earthquake and Tsunami BMKG Bambang Setiyo Prayitno in a written statement quoted by Antara, Tuesday, March 15.

The results of the BMKG analysis show that the epicenter of the earthquake is located at coordinates of 0.55° South Latitude; 98.47° East Longitude, or to be precise, located in the sea at a distance of 16 km to the south of West Batu Islands, South Nias, North Sumatra, at a depth of 45 km.

"By taking into account the location of the epicenter and the depth of the hypocenter, the earthquake that occurred was a shallow earthquake due to plate subduction activity. The results of the analysis of the source mechanism showed that the earthquake had a thrust fault mechanism," said Bambang.

Bambang said the earthquake had an impact and was felt in the Pasaman and South Nias areas with an intensity scale of II MMI (vibration felt by several people, light objects that were hung swayed). The modeling results show that the earthquake did not cause a tsunami potential.

Bambang appealed to the public to remain calm and not be influenced by issues that cannot be justified. In order to avoid cracked or damaged buildings caused by the earthquake.