The issuance of this early warning has nothing to do with Friday's earthquakeJakarta (ANTARA) - The early warning Saturday about big waves likely to hit certain areas, including the waters around Bengkulu-Enggano Island, was unrelated to the earthquake in Banten Friday, Indonesia's Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG)’s has revealed. The Agency had issued an early warning that waves between four and six meters high would probably hit certain areas, including the waters of Bengkulu-Enggano Island.
These waves could also hit the waters of the western part of Lampung Province, the southern part of Sunda Strait, the southern parts of Java and Lombok Islands, and the southern parts of Bali Strait-Lombok-Alas, the Agency revealed.
However, the early warning had nothing to do with the 6.9-magnitude earthquake that rocked certain areas of Banten Province Friday, according to the agency's meteorology deputy, Mulyono Rahadi Prabowo.
"The issuance of this early warning has nothing to do with Friday's earthquake," he told ANTARA which contacted him to seek clarification.
Community members need to be able to differ big waves from a tsunami, The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) Spokesman Agus Wibowo said earlier.
A big wave was like a truck while a tsunami was like a train with 12 wagons, said Wibowo while making an analogy. Therefore, their respective strengths were also distinct.
Certain parts of Banten Province were rocked by the 6.9-magnitude earthquake on Friday, damaging 178 buildings comprising homes, schools, and mosques, among other things.
The quake's epicenter was located at 7.54 degrees southern latitude and 104.58 degrees eastern longitude, at a depth of 10 kilometers (km) below sea level, and 147 km southwest of Sumur, or 164 km southwest of Pandeglang.
"According to our latest data until 12:26 afternoon, 176 buildings suffered slight damage while two others incurred moderate damage in several sub-districts in three districts," Kusmayadi, acting head of the Banten Disaster Mitigation Agency, remarked.
Relief aid, comprising food and clothing from the Social Affairs Ministry and the National Disaster Mitigation Agency, had been distributed, he noted.
In the aftermath of this strong quake, BMKG has urged the public to ignore rumors on social media platforms claiming the likelihood of a nine-magnitude earthquake.
"The rumors are baseless because no one is able to predict the magnitude of an earthquake, and when and where it will occur," Head of the BMKG's Earthquake and Tsunami Center Rahmat Triyono said.
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Translator: Virna PS, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Gusti Nur Cahya Aryani
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