TEMPO.CO, Bandung - The Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) asserted the magnitude 5.1 earthquake that struck Malang at 13:09 local times today was not related to Lombok quake on last Sunday. No potential tsunami followed the tremor.

A BMKG official Daryono said the earthquake in the south of Malang, East Java was a subduction quake and that was not associated with Lombok earthquake.

“Because Lombok earthquake was due to cesarean activity and it is far from the subduction zone in the south of Malang,” said Daryono in a written statement, Wednesday, August 8.

Read: Magnitude 5.2 Earthquake Shakes Malang, East Java

The earthquake was centered beneath the ocean at 8.80 degrees south latitude and 112.46 degrees east longitude and that 88 kilometers from south of Kepanjen City, Malang, East Java, at a depth of 70 kilometers.

The medium-depth earthquake caused by the Indo-Australian plate's subduction with the Eurasian plate (thrust fault).

The tremor was felt in Malang, Karangkates, and Blitar with the intensity of MMI III scale and in Tretes, Tulungagung, Lumajang, Yogyakarta, Kuta with an intensity level of MMI II.

As of press time, no casualty is reported due to the earthquake in southern Malang today, August 8.

ANWAR SISWADI