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A
major earthquake struck the southern
Mentawai Islands and adjoining parts of Sumatra on
4 June 2000 at 23:28 PM local time resulting in
103 deaths and considerable damage to property in the province of
Bengkulu on Sumatra, Indonesia. It had a magnitude of
Mw=7.9 and despite its size, it did not
generate either a local or an ocean-wide tsunami.
The earthquake was
centred
68.4 kms N of Karkuwa (Enggano Island), Indonesia,
87.9 kilometres WSW
of Manna (Sumatra), Indonesia,
100 kilometres S of Bengkulu (Sumatra),
Indonesia,
205 kilometres NW of Krui (Sumatra), Indonesia,
349 kilometres SW of Palembang (Sumatra), Indonesia,
545 kilometres NW of Jakarta (Java), Indonesia,
704 kms SSW of Changi International Airport, Singapore.
This earthquake was
the strongest earthquake in the Indian Ocean since 1977.
Following the mainshock, there was great
concern that an ocean-wide tsunami
might have been generated in the Indian
Ocean. However, no tsunami was generated
by this earthquake. The mainshock was
followed by hundreds of aftershocks. The largest aftershock, was a
magnitude 6.7 event that struck within 11 minutes of the mainshock.
Including this aftershock there were 4 aftershocks that had
magnitudes of 6 or greater.
The worst damage was
concentrated on Enggano Island, which is situated off the coast of
Sumatra. Nearly 90% of the structures on the island were demolished
but miraculously no one was killed. Most
of the fatalities occurred in the city of Bengkulu, on the island of
Sumatra. Out of the 103
deaths and 2174 injuries, 100 of
the dead were from the city of Bengkulu and other neighbouring
towns. Among the buildings that collapsed in Bengkulu,
were a hotel and two bank buildings. The city's airport and seaport
were also badly damaged. Telephone links were cut for several days
following the earthquake. The Indonesian Navy was brought in to help
far flung islands off the west coast of Sumatra.
This earthquake was felt strongly at
Jakarta and Medan
in Indonesia. It was also felt in many
parts of Singapore and at Johor Bahru, Kuala Lumpur and Petaling
Jaya in Malaysia. |
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References
01)
Harvard Centroid Moment Tensor Solution (HRV), Harvard, USA.
02) International Seismological Centre (ISC),
Berkshire.
03)
National Earthquake
Information Centre (NEIC), Golden, USA.
04)
Macroseismic information has been compiled by
the ASC from reports by local media and local NGO personnel.
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