TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Meteorology, Geophysics, and Climatology Agency (BMKG) would intensively observe the activity of underwater volcanoes around Ternate, North Maluku for a week following the strong earthquake on late Sunday, July 7.

“There are many volcanoes around areas hit by the quake, North Maluku, and we are worrying about undersea volcanoes so BMKG will conduct 24-hour monitoring for the next seven days,” said BMKG Geophysics deputy Muhamad Sadly in a press conference in Jakarta, early hours of Monday, July 8.

He explained there are submarine volcanoes in the northern area of Manado and Ternate, and so that must be monitored for a week ahead, besides the current condition in the area after 19 aftershocks occurred as of Monday, 00:54 Western Indonesian Time (WIB).

“We track 19 aftershocks and that relatively decreases. We hope it continues to drop and become stable,” he added.

BMKG will coordinate with the Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation (PVMBG) to conduct monitoring to undersea volcanoes.

As reported earlier, BMKG recorded a magnitude 7.0 tremor hit North Maluku or 133 kilometers west of Ternate City, precisely at 0.53 degrees north latitude and 126.18 degrees east longitude, at a depth of 49 kilometers.

BMKG assessed the earthquake was a shallow one caused by deformation of the earth's crust on the Maluku Sea plate.

ANTARA