Two Earthquakes Rock Sumatra's Padang, Pesawaran Today

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Two earthquakes struck again Pesawaran Lampung and Padang Panjang of West Sumatra today, September 30, 2022. The Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) reported it occurred at 01:10 and 06:24 western Indonesian time (WIB), respectively.

The strengths were measured at 3.3 and 3.5 magnitudes and at a depth of 4 and 10 kilometers. The tremor in the two regions was felt up to level III on the MMI scale. Level III means the shaking can be felt by several people indoors as if a truck passes.

Tempo recorded that since mid-September, there were at least 11 quakes in Sumatra. Seven of them were in West Sumatra, including Bukittinggi, Pariaman, West Pasaman, and Padang Panjang.

BMKG is still monitoring the quake frequency in the province. However, the agency’s acting head of the quake and tsunami center, Daryono, stated that no early warning is issued because of the high uncertainty in such events. 

Daryono recalled that the last powerful quake occurred exactly on this day, 13 years ago. At that time the M7.6 Padang-Pariaman quake caused a very destructive impact. The epicenter was detected on the coast, triggered by the deformation of the Ocean Plate slab under the megathrust zone.

“Experts call it an intra-slab quake,” Daryono said on his Twitter account today, adding that such a quake had much stronger energy. Thirteen years ago, the earthquake generated landslides that buried three villages in Tigo Mountain Valley, Pariaman, and killed about 400 people.

ZACHARIAS WURAGIL

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