REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, DELI SERDANG -- President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has lauded the inhabitants of Mentawai Islands for following disaster response mechanism properly when a powerful earthquake jolted their district on Wednesday evening.
The people moved to certain locations to avoid possible danger during the earthquake, Jokowi stated at the Kualanamu airport, here, Thursday.
The residents followed directives issued by the local authorities that urged them to move to safe locations, he remarked.
"The people then moved. After (they) saw there was no tsunami, (they) returned to (their) respective homes," he noted before departing to South Sumatra on a working visit.
The head of state affirmed that he continued to monitor the developments after the powerful earthquake had struck the Mentawai Islands District, West Sumatra.
"We have been constantly following: yesterday, last night, and this morning," Jokowi pointed out.
The president had earlier urged the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) to provide immediate assistance to mitigate the effects of the earthquake that had struck Mentawai Islands on Wednesday evening.
"The president has instructed the agency's head Willem Rampangilei to immediately evaluate the situation in the region and to undertake necessary steps to mitigate the impact of the earthquake," BNPB spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho stated in Jakarta on Thursday.
According to Sutopo, President Jokowi continues to monitor the impact of the earthquake measuring 8.3 on the Richter scale.
The spokesman affirmed that the people in the earthquake-affected areas responded effectively to an early tsunami warning system issued following the tremor.
The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) had warned of the potential threat of a tsunami following the earthquake.
However, the agency had officially lifted its Tsunami warning status some three hours after the earthquake.
Following the quake, Mentawai Islands was hit by three aftershocks respectively measuring 7.3, 5.8, and 5.3 on the Richter scale on Wednesday evening and Thursday morning.
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