An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.1 rocked West Pasaman Regency, West Sumatra, on Friday 25th February 2022 at 8:39am WIB.
The Head of the Earthquake and Tsunami Mitigation Division of the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), Daryono, explained that the Pasaman earthquake could be felt as far as Malaysia.
“The Pasaman earthquake was felt far away because the ground motion was quite strong and was responded by soft and amplified soil so that it could be felt in Malaysia,” said Daryono on his Twitter account @DaryonoBMKG, quoted on Friday 25th February.
Gempa kuat ini didahului gempa M5,2 berselang 4 menit diduga dipicu Sesar Bsar Sumatra dengan mekanisme geser menganan (strike slip dextral). pic.twitter.com/2gowFB99mN
— DARYONO BMKG (@DaryonoBMKG) February 25, 2022
According to Daryono, the 6.1 magnitude earthquake in Pasaman was a shallow crustal earthquake triggered by an active fault.
“The source mechanism for the Pasaman earthquake, both the OPENING and MAIN EARTHQUAKE, are both right-hand shear (strike-slip dextral) mechanisms,” said Daryono.
BMKG stated that the shocks caused by the West Pasaman earthquake were felt as far as Malaysia and Singapore.
Domestically, a number of areas that also felt the impact of the West Pasaman earthquake were parts of West Sumatra and North Sumatra, including Bukit Tinggi, Padang Panjang, Padang City, Payakumbuh, Aek Godang, Gunungsitoli, Pesisir Selatan, Rantau, Parapat, South Nias, and Bangkinang.
The quake was centred 17 kilometres northeast of West Pasaman, 20 kilometres northwest of West Pasaman, 51 kilometres of Agam, and 141 kilometres west of Padang.
So far, the agency’s data shows that the earthquake has no potential for a tsunami.