Magnitude 6.5 earthquake strikes near Jakarta

A magnitude 6.5 earthquake struck near Jakarta’s Thousand Islands early Saturday, with tremors felt in the Indonesian capital and across parts of Java and Sumatra.

Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) Earthquake and Tsunami director Wijayanto said the earthquake struck at 4.23 am local time, with the magnitude revised from an initial 5.9 following further analysis.

He said its epicentre was in the Java Sea, 69km northeast of Jakarta’s Thousand Islands, at a depth of 368km.

“Taking into account the location of the epicentre and the depth of its hypocentre, the earthquake was a deep earthquake caused by intraslab activity,” he said in a statement, adding that tsunami modelling showed no tsunami threat.

The earthquake came less than 10 hours after a magnitude 6.0 quake struck the Banda Sea in eastern Indonesia at 6.56 pm on Friday at a depth of 148km, with its epicentre 162km northeast of Southwest Maluku and tremors felt across parts of Maluku.

Wijayanto said the strongest tremors from Saturday’s earthquake were reported in parts of Banten and West Java, as well as Tanggamus in southern Sumatra, where the shaking was perceptible by people indoors and could cause windows and doors to rattle.

He said the tremors were also clearly felt indoors in Jakarta’s Tanjung Priok and several other areas, while weaker shaking was reported as far away as Yogyakarta and Malang in Java, and Padang and the Mentawai Islands in western Sumatra.

Some of strongest tremors were reportedly felt in Pandeglang in Banten, which lies along the Sunda Strait near the Anak Krakatau volcano which experienced renewed eruptive activity last week. However, Wijayanto said, Saturday’s earthquake was tectonic in origin, with BMKG reporting no aftershocks as of 5 am.

Meanwhile, KAI Commuter said in a social media post that Commuter Line services were suspended following the earthquake to allow comprehensive inspections of railway tracks.

It said the Bogor, Cikarang, Rangkasbitung, and Tanjung Priok lines resumed services after inspections were completed at 5.26 am , followed by the Tangerang line at 5.45 am.

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