Aceh rattled by 20-30 aftershocks every day

Aceh rattled by 20-30 aftershocks every day

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Between 20 and 30 aftershocks have shaken Banda Aceh city and the
surrounding area each day following the monster quake that rocked
Aceh on Dec. 26 last year. However, most of the aftershocks were
not felt by residents as they were too weak.

"The aftershocks were only recorded on the seismograph," said
Eridawaty, a senior official at the Banda Aceh office of the
Geophysics and Meteorological Agency (BMG).

The official said that the aftershocks mostly had their
epicenters some hundreds of kilometers southwest of Banda Aceh
and between 20 and 30 kilometers beneath the sea.

Eridawaty called on the public not to be panic despite the
continuing aftershocks. People should also not let themselves be
unduly worried by a recent prediction that another huge quake
would hit the west coast of Sumatra island.

"There is no equipment that can predict when and where a quake
will occur, so the people should not be overly worried,"
Eridawaty was quoted as saying by Antara on Saturday.

His call came after a recent prediction by a French expert
that another big quake would affect the west coast of Sumatra in
the near future.

The earthquake on Dec. 26, which measured 9.3 on the Richter
scale, triggered a deadly tsunami that left some 129,000 people
dead in Aceh only. The quake was followed by another big quake
that hit Nias Island on March 28, which killed hundreds of
people.