BMKG: There Were 7 Aftershocks In Bengkulu

A number of residents of the Qoryah Thoyibah Housing, Kandang Limun Village, Bengkulu City stayed outside the house after the earthquake that rocked the area. (Carminanda / Antara)

JAKARTA - The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) reports that there have been 7 aftershocks after the 6.9 magnitude earthquake rocked Bengkulu, Wednesday, August 19 at 05:23 WIB.

Head of Kepahiang Class III Geophysics Station, Litman said, from the recording of an earthquake detector or seismometer, the duration of a series of earthquakes that occurred was long enough that it did not rule out the possibility of aftershocks.

"The first earthquake shaking was centered at 4.50 south latitude (LS) and 100.91 east longitude (BT) in the southwest of Bengkulu with a depth of 10 kilometers," said Litman as quoted by Antara, Wednesday, August 19.

The position of the earthquake point was 169 kilometers southwest of Bengkulu, 177 km northwest of Enggano Bengkulu, 185 kilometers southwest of North Bengkulu and 188 kilometers southwest of Central Bengkulu and 682 kilometers northwest of Jakarta Indonesia.

He explained that the first aftershock with a magnitude of 6.8 occurred at 05.29 WIB or only five minutes from the first earthquake and the second aftershock with a magnitude of 4.9 occurred at 05.39 WIB.

Meanwhile, the third aftershock with magnitude 4.7 occurred at 05.57 WIB and the fifth aftershock with magnitude 3.9 occurred at 05.57 WIB or only a few seconds after the fourth aftershock.

Then, the sixth aftershock with a magnitude of 3.8 occurred at 06.10 WIB and an earthquake with a magnitude of 3.4 occurred at 06.13 WIB.

"The second earthquake with a magnitude of 6.8 at a depth of 11 kilometers is at a point of 3.74 south latitude and 101.56 east longitude at a depth of 11 kilometers and has no potential for a tsunami," he explained.

According to him, by paying attention to the location of the epicenter and the depth of the hypocenter, the earthquake that occurred was a type of shallow earthquake due to the subduction activity of the Indo-Australian plate under the Eurasian plate.

The results of the source mechanism analysis showed that both earthquakes had a thrust fault mechanism.

"This earthquake shock was felt in almost all areas in Bengkulu Province, even to Lubuk Linggau, South Sumatra Province," he said.

After the 6.9 magnitude earthquake rocked Bengkulu, Wednesday morning (19/08), until 06.30 WIB some residents still chose to stay outside their homes for fear of aftershocks.

"The earthquake was very strong, especially since there were several aftershocks, so I'm still worried," said resident of RT 05, Kandang Limun Village, Bengkulu City, Oki Saputra Jaya.

So far, no significant damage has been reported as a result of the earthquake, but some walls of residents' houses have cracks.