Today's Earthquake: M 5.9 Pangandaran , Here's the Analysis

The tectonic earthquake again rocked Pangandaran , West Java. Lindu which occurred at 08.51 WIB was felt as far as Solo , Central Java. Head of Earthquake Information and BMKG Tsunami Early Warning Division Daryono said that this tectonic earthquake precisely shook the southern Indian Ocean region of Java. "The BMKG analysis shows that the initial information on this earthquake has a magnitude of M 5.9 which is then updated to M 5.6," said Daryono via a short message. Data from BMKG shows that the earthquake epicenter is located at 9.63 LS and 108.51 BT coordinates. Precisely, the location is in the sea at a distance of 212 south direction Pangandaran with a depth of 33 km. 

"Taking into account the location of the epicenter and the depth of the hypocenter, it appears that this shallow earthquake is caused by the deformation of the rocks in the Indo-Australian Plate which dip beneath the Eurasian Plate," said Daryono. "The analysis of the source mechanism shows that this earthquake has a downward movement mechanism with a small amount of oblique normal fault components ," he explained. Daryono said, the earthquake shocks were reported to be felt in several southern regions of Java, such as Pangandaran, Kebumen, Tasikmalaya, Cilacap, Banyumas, Karangkates, Blitar, Tulungagung, and Kediri on the MMI II-III intensity scale. The strong tremor caused many people to panic and leave the house. Meanwhile, residents in Banjarnegara, Bantul, and Solo felt shocks on the MMI II intensity scale. "Until now there have been no reports of the impact of the damage caused by the earthquake," said Daryono. "The modeling results show that the earthquake did not have a tsunami potential," he said. Men born in Semarang also said that until around 9:25 pm, the monitoring results indicate the presence of one activity BMKG aftershocks ( aftershock ) with a small force. "People are encouraged to remain calm and not be affected by issues that cannot be justified," he said. For information, the southern region of Cilacap-Pangandaran is an active seismic area and has the potential for a strong earthquake.

"Based on earthquake records in the BMKG earthquake catalog, since 1940 there have been six strong earthquakes in this zone, namely on March 21, 1940 (M 6.3), September 7, 1974 (M 6.5), July 24, 1979 (M 6.9), the tsunami damaged "July 17, 2006 (M 7.7), March 3, 2011 (M 6.7), and June 13, 2013 (M 6.7)," said Daryono. "By considering the high potential and seismic activity in this region, it is important to continue to promote earthquake and tsunami mitigation efforts," he said.