Simalungun M6.4 Earthquake Felt as Far as Padang

A magnitude 6.4 earthquake that occurred in Simalungun, North Sumatra, on Saturday evening (15/8) was felt as far as Padang, West Sumatra. A number of residents in several areas of West Sumatra also felt the tremor. Many assumed the earthquake originated from the Semangko fault or from Mentawai. Abidin, a resident of the Lubuk Buaya area of Padang, said the earthquake felt quite strong, although it lasted only a few seconds. “About 2 or 3 seconds at most. But it was very strong. It shook,” he said. Randi Putra, who lives in the Kuranji area, expressed similar sentiments. He was startled because he thought it was a Mentawai earthquake. “Strong, quite strong. I saw many people shocked and running out of their houses. I ran too,” he said. BMKG recorded that the earthquake occurred at 17:54:52 WIB at 2.97 North Latitude, 98.95 East Longitude, 10 kilometres southeast of Simalungun, North Sumatra, at a depth of 163 kilometres. BMKG Director of Earthquakes and Tsunamis Wijayanto said the earthquake was an intermediate-depth earthquake caused by plate subduction activity. Source mechanism analysis showed that the earthquake had an oblique normal fault mechanism. “Taking into account the epicentre location and hypocentre depth, the earthquake that occurred is an intermediate-depth earthquake caused by plate subduction activity. Source mechanism analysis shows that the earthquake has an oblique normal fault mechanism. There is no tsunami potential,” he said in a written statement.