Dwi Yuliantoro didn’t expect he would have to make a call to Sumatra, Indonesia, yesterday to find out if a friend was safe.
On Wednesday at about 8:40 a.m., an 8.6-magnitude earthquake struck about 200 miles off the coast of Sumatra. This is the largest earthquake in Indonesia since the 2004 tsunami that hit 9.1 on the Richter scale and killed about 200,000 people.
Once receiving the news, Yuliantoro, a graduate student and native of Java, Indonesia, said he immediately called a friend who just went back to the country. But after several calls, he was unable to reach his friend.
Yuliantoro said he has had no luck because communications most likely were down in the area where the earthquake hit.
Yuliantoro is one of 36 students from Indonesia currently at MSU, according to the Office of the Registrar.
The earthquake this time around didn’t cause any massive tsunamis, and professor of geological sciences Kaz Fujita said it is unclear what exactly caused the quakes because they occurred in an unusual location.
“We’ll have to wait on some detailed studies on how the earthquake went about,” Fujita said. “Not a lot has happened structurally, but weak houses might have been damaged since (the earthquake hit) fairly far off shore.”
Graduate student and Jakarta, Indonesia, native Isabella Tirtowalujo said although she doesn’t live where the earthquake hit, she experienced several earthquakes while in Indonesia, which experts say is a common place for earthquakes. She said during an earthquake she experienced, she was on the 17th floor of a building and could feel the building sway.
According to CNN, there were tsunami warnings throughout the area for a few hours Wednesday, and a couple of earthquakes occurred hours later, including one that was measured at an 8.2-magnitude. However, Indonesia’s President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said there were no deaths or damage.
Yuliantoro said he visits his home country every summer and expects to help the damaged area if needed, just like he did for previous earthquakes.
“(Most of the time) in that slight moment, (families) lost their house (and) all of their belongings, and the village when I was there doesn’t look like a village, it’s all flat,” Yuliantoro said. “Lots of the people who experience this natural disaster will really need basic needs such as food and clothing, and I’ll try and collect as much food as I can (for them).”
Marketing junior and Indonesia Student Association President Anastasia Suradja said there are no fundraisers currently in progress.
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