1Berita – Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG): Indonesia Experienced 10,789 Earthquakes Throughout 2023
The Head of the Earthquake and Tsunami Center at BMKG, Daryono, noted that the Indonesian region was shaken by earthquakes a total of 10,789 times in various magnitudes and depths throughout 2023.
Daryono evaluated the earthquake activity throughout 2023 as significantly higher than the annual average, reaching around 7,000 earthquakes.
“Based on magnitude, during 2023, BMKG recorded significant earthquake activity with a magnitude above 5.0 (M>5.0) occurring 219 times,” explained Daryono in a statement on Sunday (31/12).
“While small earthquakes with a magnitude less than 5.0 occurred 10,570 times,” he added.
In 2023, earthquakes felt by the community numbered 861 times, and earthquakes causing damage occurred 24 times.
Out of the 24 damaging earthquakes, 15 were triggered by active fault activities, and 9 were caused by subduction zone activities.
Furthermore, there were two earthquakes that had the potential to cause tsunami disasters: the Maluku Earthquake (Saumlaki) on January 10, 2023, with a magnitude of M7.9, and the West Sumatra Earthquake (Mentawai-Siberut) on April 25, 2023, with a magnitude of M7.3.
Both earthquakes caused minor damage to some residential buildings and triggered minor tsunamis with no significant impact.
“With the tectonic complexity of the Indonesian region, continuous efforts are needed to strengthen earthquake and tsunami mitigation. This is crucial to face the possibility of powerful earthquakes and tsunami-triggering activities in the future,” explained Daryono.
“Societal awareness and education about mitigation need to be promoted until people truly have the capacity to know how to stay safe during earthquakes and tsunamis,” he added.
Furthermore, BMKG took several steps to strengthen the tsunami early warning system.
In 2023, BMKG built installations for 95 new seismograph sensors, bringing the total number of seismograph sensors operated by BMKG to support the Indonesia Tsunami Early Warning System (InaTEWS) to 533.
Additionally, to expand the reach of earthquake information and early tsunami warnings, BMKG installed 75 new Warning Receiver System New Generation (WRS NewGen) devices in earthquake and tsunami-prone areas. With this, BMKG has installed a total of 500 WRS NewGen devices as equipment for disseminating up-to-date information.
