BMKG Identification Of Sumedang Fault Length Of 2.5 Kilometers

Archives - The condition of one of the houses that was badly damaged after the earthquake in Sumedang Regency, West Java, Wednesday (3/1/2024). (ANTARA/Rubby Jovan)

BANDUNG - The Bandung Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) identified the earthquake that rocked Sumedang Regency on December 31, 2023, which has a fault length of 2.5 kilometers.

Head of the Bandung BMKG Geophysics Station, Teguh Rahayu, revealed that the Sumedang fault was the cause of a series of earthquakes with a peak of 4.8 magnitudes after research and identification were carried out for two months after the earthquake.

"According to a survey that we have conducted, the length (Sumedang target) is 2.5 kilometers and we focus on the survey, namely the affected Sumedang city area, so the length is 2.5 kilometers, it is located right below Sumedang city," said Teguh in Bandung as reported by ANTARA, Monday, February 26.

Teguh conveyed that with the identification of the fault causing the earthquake, the first thing that must be done by the Sumedang Regency Government is to strengthen mitigation efforts.

"Then secondly, development regulations, so we produce micro zoning data for referrals, both spatial planning and regional planning," he said.

On a separate occasion, the Acting Regent of Sumedang Herman Suryatman revealed that based on the results of the BMKG study on Sumedang faults, it is certainly very useful as input in determining the direction of regional development policies in the future.

"The results of this study are useful as role input (input in terms of policy), firstly the revision of the Regional Regulation (Perda) of the Regional Spatial Planning (RTRW), because the mitigation of earthquake disasters has not yet been included in our RTRW," said Herman.

According to Herman, the earthquake documents reviewed by the BMKG will also be very useful in formulating the Regional Medium Term Development Plan (RPJMD) and the Regional Long Term Development Plan (RPJPD) for Sumedang Regency.

"Later, we will submit it again to the annual plan until technical policies such as licensing for building approvals and so on, of course there will be changes and improvements which will later be adjusted," he said.

Furthermore, he said that in the future the local government would pay more attention to construction by prioritizing earthquake-resistant buildings in Sumedang.

"For example, how will the permit to build houses, factories and so on, later we will have to pay attention to earthquake disasters," he said.