Bengkulu province was again jolted by two consecutive aftershocks measuring 4.9 and 5.4 on the Richter scale on Tuesday morning at different locations, ANTARA quoted local Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG) official Adjat Sudrajat as saying. He said the first 4.9-magnitude aftershock occurred at 4.06 a.m. and the second one, stronger than the first, happened 17 minutes afterward when the local residents were having "sahur," the meal eaten before daybreak during the fasting month. The epicenter of the first quake was located at 3.53 degrees southern latitude and 100.99 degrees eastern longitude at the depth of 60 kilometers, some 117 kilometers west of Lais subdistrict in North Bengkulu district, while the second one was located at 6.35 degrees southern latitude and 102.66 degrees eastern longitude, 190 kilometers southwest of Bituhan subdistrict in the same district. On Monday, Bengkulu was also jolted by two aftershocks measuring 5.1 and 5.2 on the Richter scale at 8.39 a.m. and at 12.13 noon. Adjat Sudrajat said the epicenter of the first quake on Monday was located at 3.56 degrees southern latitude and 100.92 degrees eastern longitude, around 125 km southwest of Lais, North Bengkulu District, at a depth of 10 km, and the second was at 4.29 degrees southern latitude and 99.94 degrees eastern longitude at a depth of 10 km and 249 kilometers southwest of Lais sub district in North Bengkulu district. After last Wednesday`s 7.9 magnitude earthquake in Bengkulu and West Sumatra provinces, parts of Sumatra Island continued to be jolted by hundreds of aftershocks up to Monday. At least 14 people were killed, 12 were seriously injured and 38 others lightly wounded in last Wednesday`s powerful earthquake. The temblor also damaged 27,822 houses, 277 places of worship, 885 school buildings, 400 government offices, 331 medical facilities, 310 bridges and roads, and 194 irrigation facilities. Late on Sunday at about 7.06 p.m., two earthquakes respectively measuring 4.7 and 4.5 on the Richter scale jolted the Pangandaran region in West Java province. Indonesia sits on the seismically active "Pacific Ring of Fire" and experiences frequent earthquakes as well as tsunamis triggered by underwater earthquakes. On December 26, 2004, Aceh province and Nias Island (North Sumatra province) were devastated by a massive earthquake measuring 8.9 on the Richter scale and a subsequent tsunami which killed at least 170,000 people.
