KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia will not experience any effect from the ongoing eruption of the Anak Krakatau volcano which triggered a deadly tsunami in Java and Sumatra on Saturday.
Due to various factors, including geographical buffers and the distance of the Sunda Strait from Malaysia, the nation is not in danger of being struck by a tsunami, said Malaysian Meteorological Department (METMalaysia) director general Alui Bahari
“In addition, any large wave formation resulting from underwater volcanic eruptions anywhere in the Pacific Ring of Fire won’t reach Malaysia, because (we are) protected by the islands of Java and Sumatra.
“However, METMalaysia is monitoring developments in the Sunda Strait to ensure that appropriate security measures are being implemented here, based on information from neighbouring countries.
“(But suffice it to say), unusual waves such as the ones that struck Banten and Lampung in Indonesia on Saturday will not reach our shores,” he said when contacted by NSTP today.
The tsunami, which struck at 9.03pm on Saturday, is believed to have been caused by a landslide triggered by Anak Krakatau’s eruption.
Beaches along the rim of the Sunda Strait were hard hit, with almost 400 people dead, over 1,000 injured, and many buildings flattened.
Meanwhile, Alui said that the mechanism for detecting earthquake-triggered tsunamis in Malaysia comprises the use of tidal gauge equipment, beach cameras and warning sirens.
“We have 77 seismological stations, 17 tidal gauges, 53 tsunami sirens and 18 beach cameras operating nationwide to channel relevant information to METMalaysia.
“Even so, Malaysia’s system only detects earthquake-triggered tsunamis and does not monitor volcanology, since there are no volcanos in the country’s geographic placement. That is why we rely on information shared by neighbouring countries through available and related channels,” he said.
On another matter, Alui advised the public to download METMalaysia’s ‘myCuaca’ application, which provides daily weather forecasts and related information which allow Malaysians to prepare themselves each day.
He said the apps’ data is updated every 10 minutes, and provides short-term weather forecasts at an interval of every two hours.
“We ask people to be alert towards changes in the weather, and observe warnings based on colour categories in the myCuaca app,” he said.