406 Aftershocks in Cianjur as of Friday Morning; 114,683 People Affected

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) said there are still hundreds of aftershocks following a 5.6-magnitude earthquake that hit Cianjur on November 21. As of Friday morning, December 9, there had been 406 aftershocks

"Update for the Cianjur aftershocks: until Friday, December 9, 2022, at 06:00, there were 406 earthquakes," the BMKG's head of the Earthquake and Tsunami Center, Daryono, said on his social media account.

In the post, he also showed the graph of aftershocks since the first day of the earthquake, with the chart going on a downtrend. 

The previous day, the BMKG issued a statement about the discovery of an 8 to 9 kilometers fault zone, starting from Nagrak Village to Ciherang, in a southeast-northwest direction. The radius on the right and left are 200-500 meters, so the total area is around 8.09 square kilometers.

The fault between the two villages passes through several other areas including the Cugenang District, which is said to be the epicenter of the M5.6 earthquake.

"We have recommended the local government to clear the area from settlements," BMKG chief Dwikorita Karnawati said on Thursday.

Based on field surveys, it was discovered that the Cianjur earthquake was very destructive not only because it was a shallow quake, but also because most of the affected buildings' structures did not meet earthquake safety standards. However, there is also the factor of the location of settlements which are on soft or loose soil and hills (topographic effect).

According to the data compiled by the Cianjur Earthquake Response Task Force, 41,166 households or 114,683 people affected by the earthquake have been verified. They are now living in shelters.

The Cianjur earthquake has so far taken the lives of more than 300 people, not only during the disaster, some have also died in refugee camps. Yesterday evening, December 8, your 60-year-old died in a shelter tent in Kampung Longkewang. His nephew said that he had been ill with kidney issues since before the earthquake and had been receiving treatments from the hospital.

Maria Fransisca Lahur

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