Residents Of South Sumatra OKU Ngaku Scattered Out Of Their Homes During The M 6.2 Bengkulu Earthquake

Illustration of earthquakes. (Unsplash)

BENGKULU - An earthquake with a magnitude (M) of 6.2 in South Bengkulu was felt in Ogan Komering Ulu (OKU) Regency, South Sumatra (Sumsel). Residents scattered out of their homes when they were shaken by the earthquake.

When the earthquake occurred, people in Baturaja City, OKU, panicked and rushed out of their homes to save themselves from the earthquake.

"The movement was quite strong which lasted a few seconds until almost all residents in our housing last night panicked out of the house to save themselves," said Fitri, a resident of Baturaja, Sunday, April 16, as reported by Antara.

Manager of the OKU Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) Gunalfi added that earthquake shocks based on calculations from the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) were felt in Bengkulu scale IV MMI.

"Although the epicenter was not in the OKU Regency area, the vibrations that were felt were estimated on the MMI IV scale," he said.

The BMKG reported that the M 6.2 earthquake in South Bengkulu occurred on Saturday, April 15 at 22:07 WIB.

The location of the earthquake was 53 km southwest of South Bengkulu, precisely at 4.93 South Latitude and 102.85 East Longitude at a depth of 23 kilometers, but there was no potential for a tsunami.

Luckily, continued Gunalfi, the strong earthquake vibration did not cause any casualties or an impact on the damage to residents' houses in OKU.

"Until now, we have not received reports of damage to public facilities or houses affected by the earthquake," he said.

Nevertheless, Gunalfi appealed to the people in his area to continue to increase their vigilance to anticipate stronger aftershocks.

"Especially for residents' houses that have been consumed by age to be more vigilant so as not to cause casualties," he said.