TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - An earthquake measuring magnitude 4.8 in Richter scale jolted Bali on Saturday, Oct. 16, at 03:18 Western Indonesia Time. It occurred 8 kilometer northwest of Karangasem. The quake has caused damages in buildings and killed three residents of Karangasem and Bangli.

Bali Regional Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) said that the emergency mitigation was underway. BPBD Karangasem reported at 07:15 that one resident died and seven were severely injured. The search and rescue team evacuated the victims from the rubbles and immediately brought them to the nearest healthcare centers.

"The quake in Bangli Regency killed two people," said acting head of Disaster Data Center, Information, and Communication at BNPB, Abdul Muhari, in a written statement on Saturday, October 16. SAR team saved four people buried in building materials, while the other four managed to escape and evacuate themselves.

Bangli BPBD reported that road access to the affected area was covered by landslides. There are three landslide spots from Bukit Abang, hampering the evacuation process through the land access. SAR team would go through the lake access to do the evacuation. The regional disaster mitigation agency in Karangasem and Bangli are still updating the data in the location.

Meanwhile, the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) announced that the center of the quake was at 10 km. The earthquake was measured at level IV of MMI scale in Denpasar, Karangasem, and North Lombok, and level III in East Lombok, West Lombok, Central Lombok and Mataram.

The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) said a strong shake was felt in several regions. BPBD Bangli reported that the people strongly felt the shaking for five seconds. They panicked and bursted out of their houses when the quake occurred.

BNPB and BPBD are coordinating to collect the update information. "The people are asked to remain alert and prepare for the potential of the aftershocks," said Abdul Muhari.

He added that the residents are urged to not be influenced by baseless information or hoaxes, especially on social media. Public could access information about the earthquake and the mitigation through the websites of the government institutions, namely BNPB, BPBD, and BMKG.

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Dewi Nurita