Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG) managed to detect the tectonic quake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale which rocked Bengkulu on Wednesday in five minutes only, the agency said.
"We managed to obtain the data on the epicenter of the quake in a relatively short time. Only in five minutes, after which we could release the information," Dr P.J. Prih Harjadi, BMG Deputy for Data and Information Systems said when contacted from Jakarta on Thursday.
He said the speed of detection depended on the magnitude of the quake.
"If the magnitude is high, many BMG seismographic stations in different parts of the country will be able to catch the signals, so that within three or four minutes information can be sent to BMG head office," Prih said.
"The ability of BMG stations to detect quakes in a relatively short time is an improvement," he said.
In the past, BMG stations were only equipped with apparatuses and devices to record the vibrations, but now they have instruments to detect the speed and magnitude of a quake to predict tsunami, he said.
Compared to data from the US Geological Survey Institution (USGS), the BMG stations in Indonesia are much quicker than the USGS which could release the result of its detection in ten minutes.
The death toll of the powerful earthquake that rocked the southern coast of Sumatra island on Wednesday evening has reached nine by Thursday afternoon.
"Six people were killed in Bengkulu and three in West Sumatra," Deputy Head of the National Disaster Mitigation Coordination Board Thabrani said.
The earthquake with a magnitude of 7.9 also left 43 people injured, 23 of them serious, he said.
In Bengkulu which bore the brunt of Wednesday`s earthquake, at least 32 houses were levelled to the ground and 335 others seriously damaged, he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment