BMKG Installs 22 Seismographs to Avoid Recurrence of 2004 Tsunami in Aceh

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - As many as 22 broadband sensors of digital seismographs have been installed throughout Aceh thus far, said the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) official Daryono on December 26 which coincided with the deadly 2004 tsunami in the province.

Through his Twitter social media account, Daryono said the seismograph sensor network was aimed at supporting fast and accurate processes in providing quake information and tsunami early warnings. 

The agency had also installed 41 units of Warning Receiver System of New Generation, WRS 2 Way, and WRS DVB types.

“In Aceh, BMKG had also installed Radio Broadcaster Early Warning System (EWS) equipment,” Daryono tweeted.

The network of those devices, he underlined, is vital since powerful earthquakes that triggered tsunamis had occurred several times in the country’s western province. Other than the 2004 tsunami, the province had been hit by devastating quakes and tsunami back in 1861, 1886, 1907, 2005, and 2012.

“Data from studies on ancient tsunamis have also revealed evidence of tsunami recurrence in thousands of years ago in Aceh,” Daryono explained.

Aceh, he went on, is an active and complex seismic region as it is adjacent to the megathrust earthquake source (9.1-9.2 magnitudes). There is also an active fault line, namely the Seulimaum segment and the Aceh segment with the potential for an earthquake reaching 7.0 magnitudes.

The 9.2-magnitude earthquake that caused the Aceh tsunami on December 26, 2004, was the largest in Indonesia recorded by the instrument. Daryono recalled that the country’s quake and sea monitoring system, at that time, was still limited and relied on information services by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) & Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA).

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ZACHARIAS WURAGIL