TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Turkey earthquake a lesson and a warning for Indonesia: BMKG
Change Size
People affected by the deadly earthquake queue for aid in Hatay, Turkey, on Feb. 24, 2023. (Reuters/ELOISA LOPEZ)
T
he Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) warned the recent massive earthquake in Turkey should motivate Indonesia to prepare for earthquake mitigation as Indonesia had the potential to experience earthquakes with a similar scale.
BMKG head Dwikorita Karnawati said on Thursday that just like Turkey, Indonesia was also vulnerable to catastrophic and complex earthquakes caused by strike slips of active faults.
She said the 7.8-magnitude earthquake in Southern Turkey on Feb. 6 had ruptured all six segments of the East Anatolian Fault, namely Turkoglu, Golbasi, Yarpuzlu, Lakehazar and Gorzali, that stretches up to 300 kilometers.
“This phenomenon is a warning for us in Indonesia to be aware of the potential for multi-segment earthquakes to happen here,” Dwikorita said in a discussion.
She added earthquakes from such a phenomenon had occurred in Lombok Island with five earthquakes of magnitudes 6.4, 7.0, 5.9, 6.2 and 6.9 within three weeks in 2018.
Dwikorita said the 7.8 earthquake from the East Anatolia Fault in Turkey had triggered a rupture in a separate but nearby fault to the west, namely the Sürgü Fault, which triggered another 7.5 earthquake on the same day.
She said the second earthquake had worsened the damages to buildings already affected by the first quake and had expanded total damaged areas.
