The Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysical Agency (BMKG) has confirmed that there has been an earthquake of magnitude 5.4 on Tuesday 7 July at 11:44am.
The earthquake occurred at a depth of 82km and doesn’t have the potential to cause a tsunami.
Though the epicentre was located 18km southwest of Rangkas Bitung, Banten, the earthquake was felt by some residents of Jakarta, Tangerang, and Depok.
Kristianto Purnomo, a citizen of Depok, West Java felt a swaying. He also noticed the chair and the television in his home in the Jatimulya area moving. “Initially, I thought I had a headache. But I noticed my chair and television moving and I knew it was an earthquake,” said the man known as Kape.
Icha Rastika also felt the earthquake from her home in Cisauk, Tangerang regency. Icha was working on her bed and said it felt like it was pulled away. Palupi, a citizen of Mount Sindur, Bogor Regency also felt the quake. “I was sitting down on my chair and I felt like I was being dragged down,” said Palupi.
Meanwhile, a magnitude 6.1 earthquake occurred in the Java Sea this morning at 5:55am. The epicentre of the earthquake was precisely 85km north of the Mlogo Jepara Regency but was felt in most areas of Central Java, Yogyakarta, East Java, and even Bali.
The Head of the BMKG Earthquake and Tsunami Centre, Rahmat Triyono said that the earthquake was categorised as a deep focus earthquake because the hypocentre of the earthquake was at a depth of 539km.
“By observing the epicentre location and the depth of the hypocentre, the earthquake that occurred is a type of earthquake in the aftermath of deformation or misguided in the subdued plate under the Java Sea.
The result of the analysis of the source mechanism indicates that the earthquake has a mechanism of downward movement (Normal Fault),” he said.
He thinks the earthquake doesn’t have the potential for a tsunami, even though it made the ground vibrate like there were big trucks crossing and items hanging on the wall were swaying. Until now, there has been no report of damage caused by the earthquake.
“The community is asked to be calm. Make sure their houses are quite earthquake resistant, and check if there is damage to the house due to the earthquake before entering again,” he said.
Meanwhile, a Cilacap citizen named Triyanto said that the earthquake was felt in his hometown in Central Java. He said some of his companions also felt the earthquake.
From the data gathered by Tribune Jateng, the region that felt the earthquake were Karangkates, Nganjuk, Yogyakarta, Purworejo, Kuta, and Mataram with a III Modified Mercalli Intensity (MMI) in which houses were shaken. Furthermore, Denpasar, Malang, Lumajang, Tulungagung, Blitar, Ponorogo, Pacitan, Surabaya, Wonogiri and Kebumen felt large shocks felt II-III MMI.
Other areas including Banjarnegara, Pangandaran, Karangasem, West Lombok, Garut, Boyolali, Krui, Sekincau, Semaka, Pekalongan, Banyumas, Wonosobo, Magelang, Purbalingga, and Gianyar saw movement of light objects.
Source: Kompas and Tribun News