She said she attempted to stay calm when handling the situation. "As a diplomat (before becoming a foreign minister), I have been trained in staying at conflict-stricken and disaster-prone areas," Retno said here on Thursday.
Her main point is that she would not get panicked in facing such a situation," Retno told journalists on the sidelines of the Indonesia-Singapore Annual Leaders` Retreat in Nusa Dua, Bali, which was held along with the IMF-WB Annual Meetings.
This former Indonesian ambassador to the Netherlands said she always packs her belongings neatly at anytime. She has never let her goods get scattered around the floor of her room. Instead, she puts them into her baggage tidily, and place it beside her bed.
"When I am sleeping, I remain fully clothed so that when an earthquake shakes like what I experienced on early Thursday, I quickly leave with my luggage and bag," she said.
Retno said the tremors of the 6.3-magnitude earthquake that shook certain parts of East Java could just be felt for a few seconds. At that time, while staying at her hotel in Nusa Dua, she had just finished preparing for President Joko Widodo`s meeting agenda.
She admitted that she got a bid panicked when she felt the tremors. However, she was then able to manage the situation. Luckily, the earthquake ended so quickly that she could go back to bed after ensuring that the quake was not followed by a tsunami warning.
The 6.3-magnitude earthquake rocked the East Java and Bali regions on Thursday at 1.57 am Western Indonesian Standard Time (WIB). The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) revealed that three people died and several houses got damaged.
Based on information from the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) on its Twitter account @InfoBMKG, the earthquake was temporarily recorded at a magnitude of 6.4 RS and occurred at 1.44 Western Indonesia Standard Time (WIB) at 7.42 degrees Latitude, 114.47 degrees Longitude at a depth of 10 kilometers (km) in Bali Sea.
Its epicenter is 61 km northeast of Situbondo, East Java, 83 km southeast of Sumenep, 87 km northeast of Bondowoso, 161 km North West of Denpasar, Bali, and 860 km Southeast of Jakarta.
Reporting by Hanni Sofia
Editing by Rahmad Nasution
Reporter: antara
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2018
