M 4.4 Batang Earthquake On Sunday Afternoon, Regent's Office Was Damaged And 4 Residents Were Injured

Houses damaged by the earthquake in Batang, Central Java (doc BNPB)

JAKARTA - An earthquake with a magnitude (M) 4.4 rocked the Batang Regency and its surroundings, Sunday 7 July at 14:35 WIB. The earthquake shock was felt quite strongly in Batang Regency, Pekalongan Regency and Pekalongan City, Central Java Province.

According to the results of a rapid assessment, the earthquake with a depth center of 6 kilometers caused damage, with details covering 3 houses heavily damaged, 5 houses lightly damaged, 1 place of worship lightly damaged, 1 school moderately damaged and the Batang Regent's office moderately damaged.

At least, the shallow earthquake had an impact in 6 villages in Batang District, 3 villages in Warungasem District and 1 village in Wonotunggal District.

The earthquake, which was centered at coordinates 7.00 South Latitude, 109.71 East Longitude, also caused four residents to suffer injuries after being hit by the rubble of the building. As for the details;

1. Sri Mukartuna, 37 years old Dukuh Ketandan Rt.01 Rw.03 North Proyonanggan Village, Batang District suffered minor injuries 2. Cati, 78 years old, Ketandaan Hamlet Rt.01 Rw.03 Kel. North Proyonanggan Batang District suffered head injuries 3. Yuyun Safarih, 42 years old resident of Kalisalak Village Rt.01 Rw.02 Batang sub-district suffered injuries to the head 4. Sapiin, 65 years old resident of South Karangasem Village, Batang District, was referred to Kalisari Batang Hospital

Quoted by the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB), the Batang Regency BPBD Rapid Response Team (TRC) together with the TNI, Polri and other forkopimda elements are conducting further assessments to record damage to other buildings and provide assistance to affected residents.

"The joint team also prepared evacuation locations including data collection on residents," Head of the BNPB Disaster Data, Information and Communication Center Abdul Muhar in his statement, Sunday evening.

BNPB appealed to the public, especially in the Batang area and its surroundings, to remain calm and alert to potential aftershocks.

"As is well known, the cause of the death toll was not due to the earthquake but because of the building factor that was not strong enough to withstand shocks," he explained.

As a form of family-based preparedness, the community can create a simple early warning system using kitchen utensils such as several pots arranged in stages so that they can easily fall in the event of an earthquake shock. The sound of the pot falling will be a "early warning" for the owner of the house, thereby further increasing preparedness.

The public is also expected not to be influenced by untrue news related to earthquakes. The public is advised to always update information from related agencies such as BMKG, BNPB, BPBD, TNI and Polri.