MAKASSAR - The Selayar Islands Regency Government, South Sulawesi, evacuated its residents to higher ground after a 7.5 magnitude earthquake occurred in Larantuka, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), at 10:20 am WIB, Tuesday, December 14.
The Regent of the Selayar Islands Basli Ali in a statement broadcast via Youtube, said that the earthquake that occurred in East Nusa Tenggara Province, especially on Larantuka Island was quite close to the Selayar Islands Regency.
"The earthquake was felt as far as Selayar and many buildings, houses and others were damaged. Many residents have also been evacuated to the highlands," he said as quoted by Antara.
Basli Ali said the impact of the earthquake, which was feared to cause a tsunami, had also been accepted by BPBD.
BPBD Selayar also continues to coordinate with the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) and continues to update further information for the safety of its citizens.
"We continue to monitor the latest information because this earthquake was quite strong. The entire Selayar area was affected and there were two areas with greater damage," he said. Basli Ali admitted that the two districts most affected were Pasilambena and Pasimarannu. For the two sub-districts, he could not confirm how big the impact would be because the communication network was cut off.
"These two sub-districts were the most severely affected. We don't know how much damage was caused, because there has been no report from there. The communication network was cut off during the earthquake and tomorrow I will go there to directly inspect," he said.
Previously, BMKG informed that the location of the earthquake was at 7.59 latitude, 122.26 east longitude. The earthquake occurred at a depth of 12 kilometers.
The BMKG has issued a tsunami early warning for the Maluku, NTB, NTT, South Sulawesi and Southeast Sulawesi regions.
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