Earthquake Hits Lombok, No Tsunami Potential

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - An earthquake occurs in Lombok with a magnitude of 5 Richter Scale at 5:43 PM local time. The epicenter was located at coordinates of 8.35 South Latitude and 116.74 East Longitude under the sea 40 kilometers northeast of Selong City, East Lombok Regency.

The Head of the Earthquake and Tsunami Center of the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) Rahmat Triyono, said that by observing the location of the epicenter and the depth of the hypocenter, the earthquake that occurred can be categorized as a shallow earthquake caused by the Flores Back Arc Thrust activities.

"The analysis results of the source mechanism indicate that the earthquake, which located under the sea northeast of East Lombok Regency, was caused by deformation of rock triggered by an upward movement of the fault structure," Rahmat said in a press release dated Friday, December 21, 2018.

Rahmat said that based on report from local community, the earthquake was felt at the East Lombok V MMI area, West Lombok, Sumbawa, and Mataram IV MMI area, Central Lombok III MMI area, Karangasem, and Denpasar II MMI area, and Kubu I-II MMI area. Until now, there have been no reports of the damage caused by the earthquake. The modeling results showed that the earthquake did not have the potential to cause a tsunami.

According to Rahmat, BMKG’s monitoring results had not shown any aftershock activity.

IRSYAN HASYIM