Banten Earthquake Damages 178 Buildings

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Banten Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) announced that a 7.4-magnitude earthquake that hit the province on Friday at 7:03 p.m. local time damaged 178 buildings comprising homes, schools, and mosques, among other things.

"According to our latest data until 12:26 afternoon, 176 buildings suffered slight damage while two others incurred moderate damage in several sub-districts in three districts," Kusmayadi, acting head of the Banten BPBD, remarked here on Saturday.

The earthquake caused damage to 140 buildings in 17 sub-districts in Pandeglang District, 32 buildings in Lebak District, and seven buildings in Serang District.

In Mandalawangi Sub-district, 51 buildings, comprising 43 homes, four Islamic schools, three mosques, and one Islamic boarding school, were damaged.

Local residents, who fled to higher ground on Friday evening in fear of a subsequent tsunami, had returned home, and the situation returned to normalcy, he stated.

Relief aid, comprising food and clothing from the Social Affairs Ministry and the National Disaster Mitigation Agency, had been distributed, he noted. The quake's epicenter was located at 7.54 degrees southern latitude and 104.58 degrees eastern longitude, at a depth of 10 kilometers (km) below sea level, and 147 km southwest of Sumur, or 164 km southwest of Pandeglang.

The National Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), which later ratified the quake's magnitude into 6.9 on the Richter Scale, promptly issued a tsunami early warning, though it was revoked two hours later.

The tremor was felt in Pandeglang at Modified Mercalli Intensity (MMI) of IV-V; Jakarta, at III-IV MMI; Bandung, Serang, Bekasi, Tangerang, Bandar Lampung, Purwakarta, Bantul, and Kebumen at II-III MMI; and Nganjuk, Malang, Kuta, and Denpasar at II MMI.

The BMKG noted that the earthquake was due to the Indo-Australian plate subducting under the Eurasian plates.

ANTARA