TEMPO.CO, Bandung - The Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) reported that the tremor caused by a powerful earthquake in the Philippines was felt up to the Indonesian territory. The 7.1 magnitude quake occurred in the early hours of Thursday, or at 00:46:15 Western Indonesian Time (WIB).

The shaking was strongly felt in Davao areas of Mindanao, southern Philippines, reaching scale V-VI of the Modified Mercalli Intensity (MMI). In Indonesia, the tremor was felt at scale III-IV of the Modified Mercalli Intensity (MMI) in Talaud Islands and at scale II-III in Sangihe and Bitung of North Sulawesi.

The epicenter was located at the sea, 6.45 degrees north latitude and 126.73 degrees east longitude, or 63 kilometers east of Pondaguitan, Philippines, or 270 kilometers north of Melonguane, Talaud Islands. It was considered a shallow earthquake with a depth of 44 kilometers.

“It was caused by the activity in the subduction zone of the Philippine Sea plate in the megathrust zone,” said the agency’s quake and tsunami mitigation coordinator Daryono in a written statement, Thursday.

Based on the analysis result, it was triggered by a thrust fault and had no potential to cause a tsunami. As of 06:00 WIB, the agency recorded 8 aftershocks with a minimum magnitude of 4.1 and a maximum of 5.3.

According to Daryono, there are quite a lot of records of strong and destructive earthquakes in the Philippine Sea Plate subduction zone, which also affected Indonesia. They hit Talaud Islands on October 23, 1914 (M 7.4), Halmahera on March 27, 1949 (M 7.0), Talaud on September 24, 1957 (M 7.2), North Halmahera and Morotai on September 8, 1966 (M 7.7), Talaud Islands on January 30, 1969 (M 7.6), North Maluku and Morotai Morotai on May 26, 2003 (M 7.0).

Read also: 7.1 M Earthquake Jolts North Sulawesi's Melonguane

ANWAR SISWADI (CONTRIBUTOR)