Very strong earthquake close to the Papua, Indonesia coast
Last update: September 8, 2012 at 11:29 am by By Ashish Khanal
Very strong earthquake close to the Papua, Indonesia coast
56km (35mi) WNW of Nabire, Indonesia
The earthquake is not strong enough to generate a tsunami. As this is no subduction quake, the depth is measured to be 20 km.
Due to the close distance to the coast, a moderate shaking is expected in a radius of 50 km (will be felt by approx. 3000 people). As Papua New Guinea and Papua people are more or less accustomed to earthquakes, and if the earthquake parameters are correct, this earthquake is not considered as dangerous by ER. Update 11:22 UTC : BMKG, the Indonesian seismological agency, reports a Magnitude of Ml6.3 but at a depth of 55 km. Update 11:27 UTC : we can only locate a few very small settlements close to the epicenter, which confirms our initial expectations that this earthquake will be probably harmless
Earthquake overview : A very shallow earthquake 10 km out of the Irian Jaya coast, Indonesia has scared people who are not panicking for a little shaking, as earthquakes are almost common as bad weather in this area of the world.
Green radius = strong shaking; yellow radius = very strong shaking, severe shaking too small to fit on this map
Most important Earthquake Data:
Magnitude : Mw6.6
UTC Time : Saturday, April 21, 2012 at 01:16:52 UTC
Local time at epicenter : Saturday, April 21, 2012 at 10:16:52 AM at epicenter
Depth (Hypocenter) : 16 km (9.9 miles)
Geo-location(s) :
10 km SE from Ransiki, Papua, Indonesia
83 km (51 miles) SSE of Manokwari, Papua, Indonesia
– Update 11:23 UTC: It has been reported that the quake caused a bridge connecting the Ransiki-Manokwari to have minor damage. A total of 10 houses damaged moderately, and dozens of others were slightly damaged.
– Update 11:03 UTC
* As usual the local media are always focusing more on the bigger cities in the area, in this case Manokwari. In Manokwari people are saying that the strong shaking only lasted 3 seconds. People rushed out of the buildings. There was no news of any damage or injuries at Manokwari.
– The biggest city in the area is Manokwari who has experienced a strong MMI VI shaking. Manokwari has a population of 53,000 people.
– The fault who generated the earthquake is called “Ransiki fault”. Both sides of the fault are moving approx. 8.5 mm/year.
– Local BMKG is reporting a Magnitude of 6.8 at a depth of 10 km (bot stronger than reported by USGS)
– Modified Mercalli Shaking Intensities : 4,000 people : Severe VIII shaking, 8,000 people : Very strong VII shaking and 169,000 people VI strong shaking.
– GDACS has calculated that the following locations might get waves of max. 0.2 meter (not a real tsunami but only strong current and waves) : Rapaowi, Ransiki, Jali Ali, Sisember and Robookisbia
– 160,000 people are living within a radius of 100 km. The repartition of the population is as follows :
75 km 29000 people; 50 km 16000 people; 20 km 5200 people and 10 km less than 1000 people
Earthquake-report.com calls an area of 25 km at risk (about 7000 people – number based on GDACS data) for serious damage and injuries.
Ransiki town / village – only approx. 10 km from the epicenter – image courtesy Toto Purwanto
– Oransbari and Ransiki are 2 villages located in a radius of 25 km around the epicenter. Especially this area will get the greatest shaking impact. Based on satellite images, Ransiki seems to have a STOL airport (short take off and landing)
– The earthquake is somewhat weakened because of an epicenter just out in the sea
– Due to the Magnitude and the close distance to the beach, NOAA has published the following Tsunami statement for the Pacific region : NO DESTRUCTIVE WIDESPREAD TSUNAMI THREAT EXISTS BASED ON HISTORICAL EARTHQUAKE AND TSUNAMI DATA. HOWEVER EARTHQUAKES OF THIS SIZE SOMETIMES GENERATE LOCAL TSUNAMIS THAT CAN BE DESTRUCTIVE ALONG COASTS LOCATED WITHIN A HUNDRED KILOMETERS OF THE EARTHQUAKE EPICENTER. AUTHORITIES IN THE REGION OF THE EPICENTER SHOULD BE AWARE OF THIS POSSIBILITY AND TAKE APPROPRIATE ACTION
