The device can detect and produce digital records of earthquakes on a computer screen and is connected to other WRS devices across Indonesia, acting head of Garut district's Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD), Firman Karyadin, said here on Thursday.
The WRS is functioning properly and it often sounds a warning if earthquakes strike certain areas in Indonesia, he informed.
Earthquakes are a regular occurrence in Indonesia as the country's lies on the Circum-Pacific Belt, also known as the Ring of Fire, where several tectonic plates meet and cause frequent volcanic and seismic activity.
The country's earthquake zone extends from the islands of Sumatra, Java, Bali, Lombok, Flores, and Alor to the Banda Sea as well as over the islands of Seram, Sulawesi, Maluku, and Papua, with the areas experiencing frequent quakes.
In West Java, Pangandaran district was rocked by a deadly quake on July 17, 2006.
The 6.8-magnitude earthquake jolted several parts of the district and triggered a five-meter-high tsunami. The catastrophe destroyed many houses in coastal areas and killed at least 668 people.
Over the past two years, Indonesia has experienced several deadly earthquakes. One of the deadliest of these quakes struck several parts of Central Sulawesi province in 2018.
The 7.4-magnitude earthquake, which was followed by a tsunami that struck the areas of Palu city and the districts of Donggala, Paringi Moutong, and Sigi on September 28, 2018, claimed 2,102 lives, left 4,612 people injured, and rendered 680 others missing.
A total of 68,451 homes were seriously damaged and 78,994 people were displaced in the quake.
The quake had left a trail of rotting corpses in its wake, prompting the authorities and humanitarian workers to bury them in mass graves.
Meanwhile, the material losses inflicted by the twin disasters were estimated at Rp15.29 trillion.
The provincial capital of Palu had borne the brunt of the disaster, with material damage and losses recorded at Rp7.6 trillion, or 50 percent of the total estimate, according to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB).
The material damage and losses in Sigi district were recorded at Rp4.9 trillion, or 32.1 percent of the estimate, Donggala district at Rp2.1 trillion, or 13.8 percent, and Parigi Moutong district at Rp631 billion, or 4.1 percent.
The material damage in the four affected areas reached an estimated Rp13.27 trillion, while the material losses were pegged at approximately Rp2.02 trillion, the agency revealed in October, 2018. (INE)
Related news: W Sulawesi: 10 homes damaged in 5.4-magnitude quake
Related news: Quake damages 65 homes in West Java's Ciamis district
EDITED BY INE
Translator: Feri P, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Suharto
Copyright © ANTARA 2020
