The agency's head, Dwikorita Karnawati, launched the EEWS trial during an event attended by Director of China's Institute of Care Life (ICL), Wang Tung, and Counsellor of Culture at the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in Jakarta, Zhou Bin, on Thursday.
These sets of EEWS were expected to help provide people with more accurate and immediate data on earthquakes so that through early warnings they could be better prepared, she said.
According to Head of BMKG's Earthquake and Tsunami Center, Rahmat Triyono, these 10 samples of EEWS were part of a pilot project in which there would be 190 sets of EEWS in different parts of Indonesia in 2020.
Situated on the Pacific ring of fire, Indonesia is prone to natural disasters, including earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
Throughout 2018, BMKG recorded that Indonesia was hit by a total of 11,577 earthquakes, including several of them that caused serious casualties, with the number significantly increased as compared to that in 2017.
Several events related to the earthquakes that had hit Indonesia last year were never witnessed before, such as the liquefaction in Palu, a tsunami that came before the issuance of a tsunami warning in Palu, and the Sunda Strait Tsunami.
In 2018, a string of strong earthquakes repeatedly rocked Lombok Island, resulting in major catastrophes.
The strong earthquakes, including the 7.0-magnitude quake that shook Lombok Island August 5, 2018, killed more than 500 people and injured more than 800 others, according to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB).
The majority of those who were killed in the earthquakes were residents of areas in North Lombok District, which is in close proximity to the earthquake's epicenter. The subsequent aftershocks also damaged 23,098 houses and forcibly displaced 134,236 people.
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Translator: Anom Prihantoro, Rahmad Nasuti
Editor: Sri Haryati
Copyright © ANTARA 2019
