BMKG Records 2,841 Earthquakes Shake NTT During 2023

Acting Governor of East Nusa Tenggara Ayodhia Kalake (left) inspected the school building damaged by an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.6 in November 2023. (ANTARA)

KUPANG - Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) Kupang Geophysics Station recorded an earthquake that rocked the East Nusa Tenggara Province during 2023 as many as 2,841 times.

"The earthquake that occurred in the province of East Nusa Tenggara and its surroundings during the period 2023 reached 2,841 incidents," said Head of the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) Kupang Margiono Geophysics Station in a statement received in Kupang, Saturday.

Kupang Geophysics Station as one of the BMKG Technical Implementation Units has analyzed 2,841 earthquake events in the NTT region during 2023.

According to Margiono, the number of earthquakes has decreased compared to 3,982 times in 2022.

He said the earthquake that occurred in the island-based province was dominated by shallow earthquakes (D<60 km) as many as 2,077 times and small magnitude earthquakes (M<4,0) as many as 2,620 times.

"The highest earthquake activity occurred in November 2023 357 times," he said.

He added that the earthquake felt by the community was reported to be 36 incidents spread across the islands of Timor, Alor, Flores, Sumba, and Sabu.

"From the earthquake that was felt, there were two earthquakes that damaged both residents' houses and public facilities," he said.

He said the two destructive earthquakes occurred on August 31, 2023 with a magnitude of 5.9 and an earthquake that occurred on November 1, 2023 with a magnitude of 6.6.

"In general, the earthquake that occurred in the province of East Nusa Tenggara was caused by megathrust in the south of NTT and Flores, back arc thrust in the north of Flores Island, as well as local faults," said the Head of BMKG Kupang.