This Is The Cause Of The Cianjur Flats Earthquake According To The Expert, Different Opinions Of MKPI And ITB Researchers

Photo of BNPB dock air due to earthquake damage and landslides in Cianjur

After the 5.6 magnitude-scale earthquake that rocked Cianjur Regency on Monday (21/11), the local and surrounding community still had to be aware of aftershocks. The earthquake in Cianjur was one of the worst earthquakes ever occurred in Indonesia with the death toll reaching 268 people.

The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) noted that the follow-up will still occur until Wednesday (23/11). There were 161 aftershocks in Cianjur with a scale of M 1.2 to the largest of M 4,2. Dwikorita, Head of BMKG, said the earthquake occurred as a result of the movement of the Cimandiri Sesar.

Most of the aftershocks are not felt, and what can be noted is a tool, and there are some that can be felt. God willing, within the next four days, the aftershocks have subsided and stabilized," said Dwikorita in Cianjur, Wednesday, November 23.

The Cause of the Cianjur Flats Earthquake According to the Expert

There are several versions of views from experts regarding the cause of aftershocks in Cianjur.

MKPI Puslit expert

Dr. IR. Amien Widodo, MSI., a senior researcher at the Center for Disaster Mitigation and Climate Change (MKPI Puslit), said the source of the cause of the Cianjur earthquake was not from the Cimandiri fault.

Amien said that the source of the land earthquake from an active fault is still not known with certainty. He said that there was indeed a Cimandiri fault near Cianjur. The fault stretches from the Queen's Port Bay to Cianjur. The movement of the fault had caused an earthquake in Sukabumi in 2001.

Furthermore, Amien said the location of the Cimandiri fault was far north of the Cianjur earthquake. He said the cause of the earthquake was not from the fault, but maybe the system itself.

Irwan Meilano, an Earthquake Expert at the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), said that aftershocks that occurred after the Cianjur earthquake were a natural phenomenon. He said many aftershocks were recorded because currently the network of observers of earthquake activity was getting tighter after the M 5.6 earthquake on Monday.

So in my opinion, the number of earthquakes of 160 is not too much. This is how the network of observers is more likely to detect more because the smaller ones are visible, but if the observations are not closed, it seems that they are not there but have not been detected," said Irwan.

Irwan said it would be normal if an M 5.6 earthquake would be followed by aftershocks several hundred times with an M 3 and M 2 scale. According to him, the cause of the aftershock was due to residual energy that was still released from the source of the earthquake.

Commenting on the opinion of the MKPI Puslit expert, Irwan said there were various possible causes of the earthquake in Cianjur. He said there were two possibilities that the earthquake that occurred was not sourced from the current Cimandiri fault or Cimandiri fault (not what was known in the past) which shifted.

"Yes, in my opinion, that's possible. So it's like this that when defining the Cimandiri fault as a field, the earthquake hasn't happened yet. So the team made it oh, this is a Cimandiri fault, there hasn't been an earthquake yet, we estimate it will be here. And it turns out that when an earthquake shifts," said Irwan.

Irwan explained that the fault is a fairly large area, unlike the line that stretches with a size of 1 or 2 meters. The fault can reach a width of up to kilometers. He said he needed to wait for all the earthquake data to be collected to find out the exact cause of the Cianjur earthquake.

That is the cause of the aftershock in Cianjur according to experts. Although there are several versions of the opinion regarding the source of the earthquake, Irwan said it is normal and does not need to be debated. However, agreeing with what was conveyed by BMKG and just waiting for the complete data.

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