Indo-Australian Plate Subduction Activity Triggers Lampung Tanggamus Earthquake

ILLUSTRATION/BETWEEN

JAKARTA - An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.3 that occurred in the Sunda Strait, Tanggamus, Lampung, was caused by the subduction activity of the Indo-Australian Plate subducting under the Eurasian Plate.

Head of the Earthquake and Tsunami Center of the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) Bambang Setiyo Prayitno said the earthquake was centered at sea at a depth of 63 km at coordinates 6.43 degrees south latitude and 104.57 degrees east longitude. Its position is 106 km south of Kota Agung, Tanggamus Regency, Lampung.

"By taking into account the location of the epicenter and the depth of the hypocenter, the earthquake that occurred was a shallow type of earthquake due to the subduction activity of the Indo-Australian Plate which subducts under the Eurasian Plate," said Bambang, quoted by Antara, Friday, August 6.

The BMKG initially stated that the earthquake that occurred on Friday evening south of Kota Agung had a magnitude of 5.5 but later updated it to a magnitude of 5.3.

Bambang said the results of the analysis of the source mechanism showed that this earthquake had an upward movement mechanism.

"The modeling results show that this earthquake has no tsunami potential," he said.

The tremors from the earthquake were felt in Liwa and Pesisir Barat on the MMI IV scale. In addition, the tremors caused by the earthquake were felt in Bojong Genteng, Palabuhan Ratu, Cibadak, Kota Agung, Bandar Lampung, and Krui on a scale of III MMI, and felt real inside the house.

Meanwhile in Cisarua, Bayah, Natar, and Panjang the tremors caused by the earthquake were felt on the MMI II scale, felt by several people and caused light objects that were hung to sway.

The earthquake reportedly caused minor damage to building walls in Kota Agung.

According to BMKG monitoring results, as of 18.31 WIB there has been no aftershock activity after the 5.3-magnitude earthquake at 18.08 WIB.

Bambang appealed to residents to avoid buildings that were cracked or damaged by the earthquake and to carry out inspections to ensure that residential buildings were not damaged that could endanger the stability of the building before returning to their homes.