REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, PADANG -- Mentawai Island District in West Sumatra Province was shaken by earthquakes for seven times on Thursday morning local time.The tremors early on Thursday were felt by inhabitants of Siberut and Pagai isles.
"Of the seven earthquakes, three had magnitudes above four on the Richter Scale (RS)," Rahmat Triyono said here on Thursday.
The first quake, with a magnitude of 4.3 on the Richter Scale, occurred at 00:16 a.m. local time, at 101 kilometers southeast of Mentawai Islands and at a depth of 27 kilometers.
The seventh tremor, measuring 4.8 on the Richter Scale, happened at 6:46 a.m. local, with epicenter located 105 kilometers southeast of Mentawai Islands and at a depth of 42 kilometers.
The earthquake was caused due to the subduction of the Earth's plate in the Indian Ocean in the western part of Mentawai Islands. The Sumatra subduction system is indicated by non-volcanic chains of isles, namely Simeulue, Nias, Banyak, Batu, Siberut, and Enggano.
"The Indo-Australian plate collided with the Eurasia Continent plate at a speed of some 50-60 millimeters per year," he noted.
In 2017, a total of 409 earthquakes shook West Sumatra Province, up from 195 in 2016.
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