Nevertheless, the plate movement shows a tendency. For example, the Indo-Australian plate which tends to move northeast, the Eurasian plate (Sundaland plate) which tends to move southeast, and the Pacific and the Philippine plates to the northwest. This is what causes the big earthquakes.
“The meeting between these plates is marked by a triangular shape on a long black line. The boundaries of the meeting between the world’s plates are along the west coast of Sumatra Island, the south coast of Java Island, Bali, NTT, the north coast of Maluku and Papua, the west coast of North Maluku, and the north coast of Sulawesi Island. Movement at this plate boundary has the potential to trigger an earthquake with a very large magnitude,” he explained.
On Frank’s prediction regarding earthquake in Banda Sea, BMKG explained that the occurrence of earthquakes in the Banda Sea was more influenced by faults located around the northern part of East Nusa Tenggara and Maluku.
“When viewed from the tectonic process, the presence of faults in this area is also very complex. BMKG has monitored clusters of earthquakes in the Banda Sea with quite large magnitudes. There are around 18 fault sources that have the potential to trigger earthquakes in the Banda Sea,” he said. (rr)