Quake hits Jakarta, West Java, ruins houses

JAKARTA (JP): An earthquake hit Jakarta and some areas in West Java on Wednesday, destroying dozens of buildings, mostly residents' houses, in Sukabumi and Bogor.

No fatalities were reported, but dozens of workers in factories in Kedung Halang and Gunung Putri, Bogor were reportedly injured in a stampede when people rushed out of their workplaces as the tremors took place.

The Meteorology and Geophysics Agency in Jakarta announced hours after the quake hit Jakarta, Bandung, Bogor and Sukabumi at 8:10 a.m., that its magnitude was 5.1 on the Richter scale.

The epicenter of the tectonic quake was in the area of Sukabumi, some 100 kilometers south of Jakarta, Waan Tarmin, spokesman for the Agency said.

A staff member at the Quake Center Office at the Agency, Riskita said that all 33 houses and one hospital destroyed by the quake were in the village of Cibadak, Sukabumi.

Twelve houses in Cibadak were totally ravaged by the tremors, while at least 20 other buildings, including a state hospital, were cracked.

In the village of Kadudampit in Cisaat district, also in Sukabumi, tens of residents' houses were partially damaged, while almost 200 houses in Cijeruk village, Bogor were seriously damaged. "Six people were hurt," Ade Yana Mulyana, an employee at the Cijeruk district office said.

The quake did not disrupt the activities of people in Jakarta, however.

In Bandung, people rushed out of their houses and offices as soon as they felt the quake at 8:10 a.m.. Many shops turned on their alarms ordering people to leave the buildings.

The first tremor was recorded at the quake monitoring station in Lembang, North Bandung, followed by the other monitoring stations in Soreang, Ciparay, Padalarang and Bandung.

In Jakarta many people were not aware of the tremor which lasted some 20 seconds.

Three buildings in Bandung, a resident's house in Sukajadi, the State Administration (LAN) building on Jl. Cimandiri, and the Makro wholesale building on Jl. Soekarno-Hatta, were slightly damaged by the tremors.

Tectonic

Riskita said that Wednesday's tremors were the product of a tectonic quake, caused by a shift in the Indian-Australian tectonic plates. "They move by seven centimeters to the north annually," she said.

Asked if the tremors were the signal of a bigger quake (especially for Jakarta and West Java), she replied that technically earthquakes could not be predicted. "There are factors that cause quakes. The probability is 50:50."

The head of the quake laboratory at the Bandung Institute of Technology, Nanang T. Puspito said he was worried about possible big aftershocks.

"Theoretically, small tremors which become medium tremors, like those in Sukabumi, are usually early signs of stronger quakes," Nanang said. "However, we have yet to thoroughly analyze things, and each quake has its own characteristics."

Meanwhile, Engkon K. Kertapati, the head of the seismotectonic division at the geological research and development center in Bandung, said that the magnitude of Wednesday's quake was 6.06 on the Richter scale.

"We maybe have a different method of reading the tremors," he said referring to the announcement by the Agency of Meteorology and Geophysics in Jakarta. Engkon said that strings of aftershocks were very possible.

At least nine quakes hit Sukabumi this month, Engkon said, adding that July 12th's tremor was the strongest. "Our records indicate that since July 6 the magnitude tended to increase. On July 6 alone there were three tremors with magnitudes of 2.13, 2.04 and 3.37 on the Richter scale.

"On July 8 there were two quakes with the magnitude of 4.21 and 5.05 on the Richter scale, while the biggest was today's quake," he said in his office on Wednesday, adding that on June 22 quakes hit Sukabumi.

Both Riskita and Engkon said that strings of aftershocks were possible. There is no single piece of equipment that can predict an earthquake. The most important factor was the readiness of the people living in areas along quake-lines to anticipate the disaster, they said.

A strong quake, with a magnitude of six on the Richter scale, jolted Jakarta and West Java on Dec. 21 last year. (21/25/sur)