Maumere Is Prone To Earthquakes, The BMKG Gives Education To Residents When The Tsunami Arrives

Photo by Cristofer Maximilian on Unsplash

JAKARTA - The Meteorology Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) provides education to the residents of Sikka, NTT about the time of the tsunami arrival through the Maumere Earthquake Field School (SLG) in 2022.

"Maumere is prone to earthquakes and tsunamis. So we want to increase the capacity of the local government and the people of Sikka Regency in building preparedness for earthquakes and tsunamis," said Head of Kupang Geophysics Station Margiono, Monday, July 25, quoted from Antara.

In the SLG, BMKG disseminates information on 12 indicators of tsunami alert, tsunami hazard maps, potential for earthquake and tsunami disasters in the NTT region, forms of community preparedness for tsunami alerts, and tsunami safe zones.

Margiono explained that knowledge about the arrival time of a tsunami must be accompanied by appropriate information regarding evacuation routes. Through the activity of tracing evacuation routes at several road points in Maumere City, stakeholders can explain to the community the evacuation routes needed by the community when there is a threat of disaster.

Margiono said that the tsunami arrival time in Maumere City was only three minutes with a height of three meters. Through a good understanding of the tsunami arrival time, the community can take independent mitigation steps by following the right evacuation route and direction.

The community was also asked to evacuate quickly because the time for the tsunami to arrive was not too long.

The local tsunami arrival time in Indonesia itself ranges from 10-60 minutes. However, there are also incidents that last less than 10 minutes.

This happened during the Palu-Donggala earthquake on September, 28, 2018. At that time the earthquake occurred at 18.02.54 and the tsunami arrived at 18.06.29. Thus, the tsunami arrival time only lasted approximately 3 minutes 35 seconds.

Margionoo hopes that the local government and the community will be alert and responsive in dealing with the threat of an earthquake and tsunami in the Sikka Regency area. He also asked the public not to believe in hoaxes related to earthquake and tsunami information.

"Make sure that official information only comes from the BMKG which is distributed through verified official communication channels," he said.