During 2017-2021, 2,800 Earthquakes With A Magnitude Of More Than 4 Occurred

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JAKARTA - The National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) said, on average, an earthquake with a magnitude of more than 4 occurred every year as many as 2,800 incidents during the 2017-2021 period.

"For the past five years, the average earthquake with a magnitude greater than 4 has ranged from 2,000 to 3,000," said BRIN researcher Danny Hilman Natawidjaja in Jakarta, Monday, December 27.

The Research Professor of Earthquake and Disaster Geology at the BRIN Earth Sciences Research Organization said that in the 2017-2021 period, an average of 25 earthquakes with a magnitude of 6 and above occurred every year.

Meanwhile, during the same period, an average of 6.5 magnitude earthquakes occurred more than five times every year in Indonesia. Only in 2021 alone, earthquakes with a magnitude of more than 6.5 occurred four times.

In 2017, there were 2,303 earthquakes of magnitude more than 4; 19 earthquakes of magnitude greater than equal to 6, and eight occurrences of earthquakes of magnitude greater than equal to 6.5.

"The bigger the magnitude, the less frequent the earthquake," said Danny.

In 2018, there were 3,020 earthquakes with a magnitude of more than 4; 28 occurrences of earthquakes of magnitude more than equal to 6, and seven earthquakes of magnitude ranging from 6.5 and above.

Earthquakes that caused quite a large impact in 2018 included the Lombok earthquake and the Palu earthquake which was accompanied by liquefaction and a tsunami.

In 2019, there were 3,337 earthquakes with a magnitude of more than 4; 30 occurrences of magnitude earthquakes ranging from 6 and above, and 12 earthquakes of magnitude ranging from 6.5 and above.

The earthquakes that occurred in 2019 included the Banten earthquake of magnitude 6.9 and the Ambon earthquake of magnitude 6.5. Because the epicenter of the earthquake was close to urban areas, the effects were quite large.

Even though the strength of the earthquake was not greater than the Halmahera earthquake with a magnitude of 7.2.

The epicenter of the Halmahera earthquake was in the ocean and not close to the mainland, so the effect was smaller even though the earthquake was fairly large.

In 2020, there were 2,642 earthquakes of magnitude over 4; 30 earthquakes of magnitude ranging from 6 and above, and six earthquakes of magnitude ranging from 6.5 and above.

Several large earthquakes in 2020, namely the Talaud earthquake with a magnitude of 7.1, the Bengkulu earthquake with a magnitude of 6.6 and 6.7 respectively, did not cause a large effect because the epicenter was far in the ocean so that the victims were few.

In contrast to the Pangandaran earthquake, even though it had a magnitude of 5.6, because the epicenter was quite close to people's houses, there was quite a lot of damage.

In 2021, there were 2,840 earthquakes of magnitude over 4; 18 earthquakes of magnitude ranging from 6 and above, and four earthquakes of magnitude ranging from 6.5 and above.

An earthquake with a sufficiently large magnitude in 2021 is the Selayar Earthquake with a magnitude of 7.3. However, the epicenter of the earthquake was in the middle of the ocean so the effect was not so damaging.

While the most destructive in 2021 are the eruption of Mount Semeru in December 2021 and the eruption of Mount Sinabung in July 2021. As reported by Antara.