BMKG Announces Cugenang Fault Zone, Suggests Relocation of 1,800 Houses
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8 December 2022 21:20 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) announced the finding of the Cugenang fault zone which triggered the 5.6-magnitude earthquake in Cianjur, West Java, on November 21, 2022. As widely reported, the center of the quake that damaged tens of thousands of houses and killed more than 300 people was not exactly on the Cimandiri Fault or had not been known before.
The agency has discovered that the fault zone is 8-9 kilometers long, starting from Nagrak Village to Ciherang Village. Between the two villages are Cibulakan Village, Benjot Village, Sarampad Village, Mangunkerta Village, Nyalindung Village, and Cibeureum Village which are in Cugenang District, where the center of the devastating quake was detected.
“We have submitted it as a recommendation to the regional government to clear [the area] from residential settlements,” said the agency head Dwikorita Karnawati on Thursday, December 8, 2022.
She explained that the survey for determining the Cugenang fault zone had just been completed last Wednesday. The survey, she asserted, was necessary to map the quake fault, hoping that the regional and central governments could follow the recommendations.
Along with the suggestions, the BMKG, the PUPR Ministry, and local governments calculated the number of houses that should be relocated.
“It (the survey) can be used for other purposes such as conservation zones, water catchment areas, or green open areas, but please don't build houses in the zone,” Dwikorita underlined. In the next 20 years, if other quakes recur in the same location, “God willing, there will be no more damaged houses and no more casualties."
The BMKG’s head of the earthquake and tsunami center Daryono added that around 1,800 houses in the danger zone of the Cugenang Fault must be relocated. They are Talaga Village, Sarampad Village, Nagrak Village, and Cibulakan Village.
ZACHARIAS WURAGIL
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