Learning from Historical Earthquakes in Bengkulu Province

Bengkulu is a province which located on the western part of Sumatera Island. It lies on collision of Indo Australian and Eurasian Plate which move every time. This condition makes the areas surround it become vulnerable to earthquake and tsunami. Bengkulu has experienced with several gigantic earthquakes that caused many damages and losses of lives.

On 4 June 2000 at 11:30 pm, Bengkulu City, with a population of 313,000, was stricken by a devastating earthquake, 7.3 on the Richter scale with an epicenter about 33 km deep and 110 km southeast of the city. It caused significant damage to lives and property. The earthquake was centered at 68.4 km Northern Karkuwa (Enggano Island), 100 km Southern of Bengkulu, and followed by hundreds of aftershocks. The largest aftershock was a magnitude 6.7 event that struck within 11 minutes after the main shock. Including this aftershock there were 4 aftershocks that had magnitudes of 6 or greater.

The earthquake resulting in 103 deaths and considerable damaging properties in the province of Bengkulu on Sumatra, Indonesia, has caused losses in Bengkulu Province and in particular in Bengkulu City, due to damages to buildings, public facilities and infrastructures. It has also caused injuries and loss of life of many people.

The main shock was followed by hundreds of aftershocks and felt strongly at Jakarta and Medan in Indonesia. It was also felt in many parts of Singapore and at Johor Bahru, Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya in Malaysia.

The worst damage was concentrated on Enggano Island, which is situated off the coast of Sumatra. Nearly 90% of the structures on the island were demolished but miraculously no one was killed. Most of the fatalities occurred in the city of Bengkulu, on the island of Sumatra. According to data from ASC-India, out of the 103 deaths and 2174 injuries, 100 of the dead were from the city of Bengkulu and other neighboring towns.

It also generally caused 3,250 totally damaged houses, 12,990 severe damaged houses, 28203 mild damaged houses; 70 totally damaged schools, 330 severe damaged schools, 344 moderate damaged schools; 21 location severe road damaged location, 14 moderate road damaged location; 9 total health buildings damaged, 99 severe health buildings damaged, 147 moderate health buildings damaged; 2 total water irrigation damaged, 44 severe water irrigation damaged, and 5 moderate water irrigation damaged. Among the buildings that collapsed in Bengkulu City, were a hotel and two bank buildings. The city's airport and seaport were also badly damaged. Telephone links were cut for several days following the earthquake. The Indonesian Navy was brought in to help far flung islands off the west coast of Sumatra. This earthquake was also followed by other disasters like landslide and liquefaction in some places.

Other gigantic earthquake that struck Bengkulu Province occurred on Wednesday of September 12, 2007 at 18.10 with the epicenter depth of 10 km, and magnitude of 7.9 SR (Based on The Indonesia Meteorology and Geophysics Agency) or 8.5 RS (Based on USGS report). The epicenter of such earthquake was located on S 4.67 and E 101.13, 159 kilometers southwest Bengkulu city, with the depth 10 km. The earthquake was felt about 1 to 2 minutes in Palembang (South Sumatra province), Pekanbaru (Riau province), Dumai (Riau province), Padang (West Sumatra province), Singapore and Jakarta, causing panic among the residents.

A report of Saksigempa.org on September 29^th 2007, stated that casualties occurred in Bengkulu Province in a large number of damaged houses; 7.050 units completely damaged, 10.522 seriously damaged and 35.041 units slightly damaged. Besides, the earthquake also causes damages of hundreds public facilities such as schools, health centers, roads and other public facilities.

WHO also reported that the earthquake also caused 25 people were killed, 41 severely injured and 51 injured.