AntaraMataram, W Nusa Tenggara (ANTARA) - Several residing in Bima District in West Nusa Tenggara Province reportedly felt the tremors arising from the 4.7-magnitude earthquake that struck Tambolaka, East Nusa Tenggara, Thursday, at 3:22 p.m. local time, a seismologist stated.
The Mataram Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) reported that the quake's epicenter was monitored at some 45 kilometers (km) northeast of Tambolaka in East Nusa Tenggara Province, striking at a depth of 73 km.
Agus Riyanto, the BMKG head, remarked that the epicenter and hypocenter depth indicate the earthquake might be caused by the Indo-Australian tectonic plate subducting.
The tremors were sensed by the Bima District residents, but the quake had no potential to trigger a tsunami, he remarked, calling on the locals to not be aggravated by baseless information in the upshot of the quake.
Riyanto has appealed to the residents to trust credible information from the BMKG and disseminated through confirmed channels.
Indonesia is situated on the Circum-Pacific Belt, also termed the Ring of Fire, that traces the meeting points of several tectonic plates and causal to recurring volcanic and seismic activities.
Consequently, the archipelago's several parts are susceptible to earthquakes, as is apparent from the devastating earthquakes in Lombok Island, West Nusa Tenggara Province, and Palu, Central Sulawesi Province's capital city, in 2018.
The recorded BMKG data in 2018 showed that Indonesia had borne witness to 11,577 earthquakes, of which several ones caused serious casualties and were never seen earlier, including the liquefaction in Palu, the tsunami that struck prior to a warning being issued in Palu, and the Sunda Strait Tsunami.
The BMKG data indicated that 11,577 earthquakes, with varying magnitudes and depths, occurred in 2018, whereas only 7,172 earthquakes were recorded in 2017, thereby suggesting that Indonesia had witnessed a major rise in the number of tectonic earthquakes last year.
The agency recorded that earthquakes, of below five magnitude, were found to significantly dominate the occurrences, while 297 instances of earthquakes of magnitudes over five were observed. EDITED BY INE
Reporter: Awaludin, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Eliswan Azly
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