Alert! West Sumatra Earthquake Detetan Enlarges Landslide Potential

Archival photos - piles of landslide material that piled up the body of Jorong Limo Badak road, Nagari or East Malak Village, Malalak District, Agam Regency, West Sumatra, Saturday (11/5/2024). BETWEEN/HO-BPBD Agam.

PADANG- The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) revealed that the series of earthquake tremors in the last month in West Sumatra (West Sumatra) has increased the level of vulnerability of the area to be hit by landslides.

The statement was made by the Head of the BMKG Earthquake and Tsunami Center, Daryono in a virtual press conference which was attended from Padang Panjang, West Sumatra, Monday.

Daryono explained that the last month of the April May period, the activity of active shallow crustal earthquakes (sharing crude earthquake) was observed to be very active in West Sumatra.

BMKG noted that during this period more than 35 shallow earthquakes centered on the mainland of West Sumatra with an average magnitude of 3.

"Even though it is small, it is important to be aware of the impact of this earthquake, landslides, rock collapse, and flash floods if landslides clog watersheds," he said, quoted from ANTARA, Monday, April 13.

He said the vulnerability to the impact of the disaster was also targeting the areas of Agam Regency, Tanah Datar and Padang Panjang City in West Sumatra, which experienced a fairly high level of seismic activity and had high rainfall in the same period.

According to information received by BMKG, the Cicincin Climate Station in West Sumatra reported that Agam, Tanah Datar and Padang Panjang were hit by rainfall of 74.9 mm/day, meaning that they were in the heavy category. This condition has been going on since May 8 and has triggered flash floods or a gala that killed dozens of residents, on May 11, 2024 night.

In this information, landslides were also reported a few hours after flash floods occurred and were also affected by vibrations in the topographic area of the hilly highlands or on the north and east sides of Mount Marapi.

According to him, although there have been no reports of casualties, the subsequent landslide cut off road access and paralyzed traffic flow, such as in the Malak area, Agam Regency (the Padang-Bukit Tinggi connecting road), Sitinjau Lauik, Tanah Datar Regency (the Padang Solok connecting route), Lembah Anai Street (the route connecting Bukit Tinggi-Padang), and Kelok Sembilan.

"We convey that the people of West Sumatra remain vigilant, because the impact of earthquake follow-up plus heavy rain for some time to come also allows this landslide point to be not single, usually occurs in many places," he said.

Previously, the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) reported a number of sub-districts in Agam, Tanah Datar, and Padang Panjang Regencies that were hit by flash floods mixed with lava material on Saturday (11/5) night.

The disaster was reported to have caused quite serious damage. The BNPB Pusdalops noted that at least until Sunday (12/5) at 21.00 WIB, 37 victims of residents in the three areas died, 17 people were missing, more than 200 residents were displaced, and more than 100 houses and dozens of public facilities were damaged.

BNPB ensures that a joint team of officers is still making efforts to deal with the impact of the disaster so that data on the number of fatalities affected by other damages can still increase.