TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) informed today, December 22, that an earthquake with a magnitude of 4.5 Richter Scale struck Central Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara at 12:58 AM Indonesian Central Time (WITA).

"The epicenter occurs in the land at fifteen kilometers northeast Central Lombok, at a depth of 10 kilometers, which can be felt on the scale IV-V of MMI (the Modified Mercalli Intensity) in Central Lombok, scale IV in North, West, and East Lombok, scale III in Karangasem, and scale II in Kuta," as noted in the agency's Twitter account @infoBMKG.

The Modified Mercalli Intensity is a seismic intensity scale used for measuring the intensity of an earthquake, as quoted from BMKG website.

For scale II, the tremor can be felt by few people and hanging objects may move, while for scale III, it is quite noticeable, especially by people on upper floors of a building.

Further, in the scale IV, the shaking mostly felt by people indoors, and outdoors, evident from cracking sound of windows or doors and walls. In the scale V, the earthquake intensity is felt by nearly everyone, objects overturn, poles and large goods will also move.

The earthquake location was recorded at the coordinates of 8.56 degrees south latitude, and 116.31 degrees east longitude. The tremor could be felt until the neighboring islands such as Bali, in Kuta and Karangasem.

ANTARA