On 11 October 2018, an earthquake struck off the coast of

East Java East Java (, , ) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia located in the easternmost third of Java island. It has a land border only with the province of Central Java to the west; the Java Sea and the Indian Ocean border its northern ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

, with the epicentre located off the coast of

Situbondo Regency Situbondo Regency ( Madurese: ''Kabhupatèn Situbânḍâ'') is a regency ''(kabupaten)'' in the east of East Java province, Indonesia. It covers an area of 1,658.03 km2, and had a population of 647,619 at the 2010 CensusBiro Pusat Statisti ...

. The earthquake, which struck at dawn, killed four people in addition to destroying or damaging hundreds of houses, mostly on the small island of Sapudi.

Earthquake

The earthquake occurred at 18:44:55 UTC (01:44:55 WIB), with a magnitude of 6.0, at 9 km depth and

epicenter The epicenter (), epicentre, or epicentrum in seismology is the point on the Earth's surface directly above a hypocenter or focus, the point where an earthquake or an underground explosion originates. Determination The primary purpose of a ...

location of (

USGS The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an government agency, agency of the United States Department of the Interior, U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geograp ...

) or 6.3, 12 km depth and epicenter at (

BMKG Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysical Agency (, abbreviated BMKG) is an Indonesian non-departmental government agency for meteorology, climatology, and geophysics. History Its history began on 1841 with individual observation conducted by ...

). The epicenter was located underwater, around 60 km northeast of the town of

Situbondo Situbondo Regency ( Madurese: ''Kabhupatèn Situbânḍâ'') is a regency ''(kabupaten)'' in the east of East Java province, Indonesia. It covers an area of 1,658.03 km2, and had a population of 647,619 at the 2010 CensusBiro Pusat Statisti ...

. Indonesian

Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysical Agency Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysical Agency (, abbreviated BMKG) is an Indonesian non-departmental government agency for meteorology, climatology, and geophysics. History Its history began on 1841 with individual observation conducted by ...

reported 12 aftershocks, the strongest one occurring at 02:22 local time with a of 3.5. BMKG attributed the earthquake to an unmapped

thrust fault A thrust fault is a break in the Earth's crust, across which older rocks are pushed above younger rocks. Thrust geometry and nomenclature Reverse faults A thrust fault is a type of reverse fault that has a dip of 45 degrees or less. I ...

, adding that the region historically saw relatively low seismicity and that the earthquake was not caused by the larger and more destructive earthquakes in

Sulawesi Sulawesi ( ), also known as Celebes ( ), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the List of islands by area, world's 11th-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Min ...

and

Lombok Lombok, is an island in West Nusa Tenggara province, Indonesia. It forms part of the chain of the Lesser Sunda Islands, with the Lombok Strait separating it from Bali to the west and the Alas Strait between it and Sumbawa to the east. It is rou ...

. According to

Indonesian National Board for Disaster Management The National Agency for Disaster Countermeasure (), abbreviated as BNPB, is the Indonesian board for natural disaster affairs. It was established in 2008 to replace the National Coordinating Board for Disaster Management ( or Bakornas PB). BNPB ...

(BNPB) spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, the earthquake was felt in 22 regencies and cities in

province, including the provincial capital and Indonesia's second-largest city

Surabaya Surabaya is the capital city of East Java Provinces of Indonesia, province and the List of Indonesian cities by population, second-largest city in Indonesia, after Jakarta. Located on the northeastern corner of Java island, on the Madura Strai ...

. No tsunami warnings were issued, and none occurred. Attendees of the 2018

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution funded by 191 member countries, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It is regarded as the global lender of las ...

Summit in

Denpasar Denpasar (; Balinese script, Balinese: ᬤᬾᬦ᭄ᬧᬲᬃ, ''Dénpasar'') is the capital city of the province of Bali, Indonesia. Denpasar is the largest city in the Lesser Sunda Islands and the second largest city in Eastern Indonesia after ...

reported feeling the earthquake, but no damage occurred and the summit continued without significant disruption.

Casualties

The earthquake killed four people, and injured at least 26. As the earthquake struck around 2 am, many of the victims were asleep during the shaking and could not escape. Three of the deaths occurred in Prambanan village of Sapudi Island and were caused by falling roof shrapnel, while the fourth fatality was in

Jember Jember Regency is a regency of East Java province, in Indonesia. The land area is 3,314.13 km2, and the population was 2,332,726 at the 2010 censusBiro Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2011. and 2,536,729 at the 2020 Census;Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakart ...

, where a 47-year-old man died after he slipped and hit his head when running out of his house during the earthquake.

Aftermath

Nearly 500 houses were reported to be damaged by the day following the earthquake in Sapudi Island alone, with lesser damage in other regencies. Cleanup operations, assisted by soldiers from Kodam V/Brawijaya, began soon after the earthquake. Social minister Agus Gumiwang visited Sapudi later in the day of the earthquake. Governor of

Soekarwo Soekarwo (born 16 June 1950), popularly known as Uncle Karwo (), is an Indonesian politician who served as the 13th governor of East Java from 2009 to 2019. In December 2019, he was one of nine advisors appointed to President Joko Widodo's Presi ...

also visited the island, and promised that the provincial government would incur the costs of repairing damaged houses, with the provincial administration allocating Rp 23.7 billion (US$1.6 million) for the purpose. The central government also provided benefits of Rp 15 million (~USD 1,000) for the relatives of the fatalities, in addition to smaller benefits from the local governments.

References

External links

* {{Earthquakes in Indonesia Earthquakes in Java 2018 disasters in Indonesia 2018 earthquakes Earthquakes in Indonesia October 2018 in Indonesia 21st century in East Java 2010s in Java

Earthquake

Casualties

Aftermath

See also

References

External links