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One dead after magnitude 5 "twin earthquakes" strikes North Sumatra
The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency’s (BMKG) director for earthquakes and tsunamis Daryono said the first earthquake struck at 5:22 a.m. with a magnitude of 5.5, followed by a second earthquake measuring 5.6 just 56 seconds later.
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A man walks next to a collapsed house in Kertasari, West Java, after a 4.9-magnitude earthquake struck on Sept. 18, 2024. At least 700 houses were damaged, 82 people were injured but no deaths were reported, according to the West Java Regional Disaster Management Agency. (AFP/Timur Matahari)
T
wo powerful earthquakes hit North Tapanuli regency in North Sumatra on Tuesday morning, triggering a landslide that killed one person and injured one other.
The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency’s (BMKG) director for earthquakes and tsunamis Daryono said the first earthquake struck at 5:22 a.m. with a magnitude of 5.5, followed by a second earthquake measuring 5.6 just 56 seconds later.
"The epicenters of both quakes were only 9 kilometers apart. These factors meet the criteria for what is known as a double earthquake," Daryono explained on Tuesday.
In seismology, a double earthquake refers to a sequence of two or more earthquakes of similar magnitudes, typically occurring within a short time frame. These earthquakes are sometimes triggered by the first earthquake's impact on nearby faults.
The epicenter of the twin earthquakes was located 17 kilometers from North Tapanuli, with a depth of 10 kilometers. They did not pose a tsunami risk.
The BMKG stated that the earthquakes were triggered by active seismic activity along the Sumatran Fault Line, specifically in the Toru Segment.
The Sumatran fault line is the longest in Indonesia, running the length of Sumatra Island from the northwest in Aceh to the south in Lampung, spanning a distance of 1,900 kilometers.
