"We know the potential location and magnitude of quakes. But when a quake will happen is a question mark. Even no single developed nation can predict when a quake will happen," BMKG Deputy Head of Geophysics Prih Haryadi said in a press conference here on Wednesday.
Therefore, he added that the public should not be worried about the rumor that a massive quake would rock Jakarta in the not-so-distant future.
The BMKG some time ago detected a potential quake of magnitude 8.5 in the southern part of Sunda Strait believed to be a source of quakes but nobody could predict when the quake would happen, he said.
The agency had detected the epicenters of quakes that had so far shaken Jakarta and environs were located at Kemuring, Lembang, Cimandiri and Semangko and Sunda Striat faults, he said.
"If a quake happens in one of these places it will likely shake Jakarta," he said.
But he added that based on seismogram and accelerogram data no activity of quake in Jakarta had been detected so far.
Member of the Indonesian earthquake map revising team Masyhur Irsyam meanwhile said Jakarta residents would most likely not be significantly affected by the quake that would occur in the places.
Under the building regulation, buildings in the capital had a quake-resistance capacity of up to 0.15 G while a 8.7-magnitude quake would shake Jakarta at 0.11 G, he said.
Masyur called for a halt to a debate on the possibility of a 8.7-magnitude quake shaking Jakarta particularly after the BMKG clarified the prediction. (*)
Editor: Kunto Wibisono
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