Quake Jolts Bengkulu

Mukomuko - An earthquake measuring 5.0 on the Richter scale jolted Mukomuko district in Bengkulu at 9 am local time on Wednesday, according to Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) report. The agency said the epicenter of the quake was located between 3.02 degrees southern latitude and 101 degrees eastern longitude at a depth of 19 km, or some 81 km southwest of Mukomuko. Although there was no immediate report of casualties or material damage, the people scrambled out of their houses in fear of another major aftershock. But, Mukomuko regional disaster mitigation board spokesman Jasni Bahari called on the people to remain calm. Indonesia is prone to seismic upheaval due to its location on the so-called Pacific "Ring of Fire", an arc of volcanoes and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin. BMKG reported that earlier on Sunday there were two earthquakes respectively measuring 5.0 on the Richter scale rocked West Halmahera in North Maluku province, and Pandeglang district in Banten province. The quake in North Maluku was centered 105 km northwest of West Halmahera at a depth of 10 km, while the one in Banten was in the sea 78 km southwest of the district capital Pandeglang or 200 km southwest of Jakarta at a depth of 10 km. But no fatalities and material damage were reported. On Saturday, West Southeast Maluku district in Maluku province and the city of Gorontalo in Gorontalo province were also jolted by two quakes measuring 5.0 and 5.6 on the Richter scale. The Indonesian eastern province of Maluku is a quake-and-tsunami prone region, located at the meeting point of Pacific, Indo-Australia and Eurasia plates. Among the areas vulnerable to quakes are the southeastern part of the province, Ambon, Seram and Buru islands.(*)