"The small tsunami in the Kermadec Islands will not affect the Indonesian territory. I remind people not to panic about the tsunami threat from the earthquake in the Kermandec Islands," head of the BMKG Earthquake and Tsunami Center, Daryono, noted in Jakarta, Monday.
He remarked that the epicenter of the earthquake that struck on Monday at 07.41.56 Western Indonesian Times (WIB) in the Kermadec Islands region was located at coordinates 29.955 degrees south latitude and 177.838 degrees west longitude, precisely at sea at a depth of 49 kilometers.
"The earthquake that occurred is a type of shallow earthquake due to plate subduction activity in the Kermadec Trench where the Pacific plate subducts beneath the Indo-Australian plate. This earthquake originated right in the area of contact between the plates," he stated.
Daryono said the results of analysis of the source mechanism showed that this earthquake had a thrust fault mechanism that is characteristic of the earthquake source mechanism in plate subduction zones.
"Based on the estimated shakemap, the earthquake in the Kermadec Islands region caused a strong quake on Raoul Island, an island closest to the epicenter, during which shaking reached the VII-VIII MMI (Modified Mercalli Intensity) intensity scale and has the potential to cause damage to buildings," he remarked.
He noted that the MMI VII scale means that the earthquake forced people to leave their houses and caused minor damage to good buildings and construction. However, in buildings that are not well-constructed, the earthquake will leave cracks and even cause crumbling and damage chimneys as well as be felt by people riding vehicles.
A scale-VIII quake causes light damage to buildings with strong construction, cracks in buildings with poor construction, leads to walls detaching from the frame of the house, collapse of factory chimneys and monuments, and waters become murky, he explained.
Daryono also remarked that monitoring results showed that the earthquake in the Kermandec Islands was followed by four significant aftershocks of magnitude of 5.4; 5.3; 5.0; and 4.9 as well as dozens of other small earthquakes.
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Translator: Zubi Mahrofi, Resinta S
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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