Greater Bandung Rocked By M 5.0 BNPB Earthquake: Police Station And House Of Worship Damaged

One of the residents' buildings was damaged by the earthquake in Bandung (doc BNPB)

JAKARTA - The Greater Bandung area was rocked by an earthquake with a magnitude of 5.0 today, Wednesday, September 18 at 09.41 WIB. The earthquake made most people panic because the shock was felt quite strong in a duration of 3-5 seconds.

The earthquake, which was centered at 7.19 South Latitude and 107.67 East Longitude, had an impact on the damage to a number of houses in Pangalengan and Paperari, Bandung Regency. Temporary visual reports from the Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) of West Java Province.

"Some of the residents' houses collapsed on the walls of the house, ceiling, fence and damage in other parts with mild to severe damaged conditions," said Head of the BNPB Disaster Data, Information and Communication Center Abdul Muhari.

In addition, several public facilities, health facilities, places of worship and police stations were also damaged in the Bandung Regency area.

The West Java Province BPBD Rapid Response Team (TRC) together with BPBD Bandung Regency, BPBD West Bandung Regency and other cross-agency agencies have been in the affected locations for rapid assessment and monitoring which are also focused on efforts to save affected residents.

He said, currently there have been no significant reports of casualties. The development of data and information will be reported regularly at the next time.

Meanwhile, according to instrument recording data issued by the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), the earthquake that occurred was a shallow earthquake with a depth of 10 kilometers and was on land. Automatically this earthquake did not cause a tsunami.

The results of the analysis of the source mechanism show that the earthquake has a sliding motion or better known as a normal oblique.

The earthquake shocks were felt in several areas including Bandung City, Bandung Regency, West Bandung Regency, Garut Regency, Cimahi City and other buffer areas.

The public is asked not to panic and continue to increase vigilance, especially since the potential for aftershocks still often occurs several times with a magnitude of 2-2.4.

In addition, the public is also advised not to be provoked by issues that cannot be verified. The public is asked to update disaster information only through sources from relevant agencies and institutions.

In anticipation of aftershocks, the community can create simple early warning tools by vertically compiling used cans filled with small stones.

The vertical composition of this used can will fall and make noise if an earthquake occurs as a sign for the community. As is known, earthquakes are not the cause of casualties, but the collapse of buildings that are not strong enough to withstand shocks is a threat in case of an earthquake with a larger magnitude or on an active fault line.