September 15, 2025 | 09:29 am
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - In recent years, Indonesia's Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) has often mentioned the term megathrust when discussing the potential for major earthquakes in Indonesia. BMKG has once again reminded about the potential for megathrust occurrences in Indonesia through its Instagram post on June 20, 2025.
"The fact is, Indonesia has a megathrust zone, which is an area where tectonic plates meet and store a significant amount of energy. If this energy is released, it can cause major earthquakes, and even tsunamis. But can the occurrence be predicted?" wrote BMKG in its post.
In 2024, BMKG stated that Indonesia still faces a threat of a major earthquake in the megathrust zone of the Sunda Strait and Mentawai-Siberut.
"Scientists say that this major earthquake is only a matter of time. The seismic gap potential in the megathrust of the Sunda Strait is estimated to reach a magnitude of 8.7, while in Mentawai-Siberut it is estimated to reach a magnitude of 8.9," said the Head of the BMKG Earthquake and Tsunami Center, Daryono, on Monday, August 12, 2024. So what exactly is a megathrust?
Megathrust is a geological term used to describe the collision zone between two tectonic plates that collide with each other. "Mega" means large, while "thrust" refers to a subduction fault. The megathrust zone is located at the boundary between the continental crust and the oceanic crust.
In this zone, the oceanic plate subducts beneath the continental plate or another plate. The locked energy at this collision can accumulate for tens to hundreds of years, and then be suddenly released in the form of a major earthquake.
Based on the 2017 Earthquake Source and Hazard Map from the National Earthquake Study Center (PuSGen), Indonesia is surrounded by 13 megathrusts, including the segment of the Sunda Strait, which is partly located in the south of Java-Bali, and the Mentawai-Siberut zone in western Sumatra.
Megathrust earthquakes usually have magnitudes ranging from 7 to 8, and their shaking duration is much longer than that of ordinary earthquakes, and can even last for several minutes.
Megathrust Indicators
According to Earthquakes Canada, indications of a megathrust earthquake can be marked by a sudden coastline submergence, the identification of age-determined dead vegetation, and submarine landslides from the continental shelf to the deep sea.
These landslide deposits can usually be identified through sediment core samples taken from the seabed.
Although megathrust earthquakes rarely occur and their timing cannot be accurately predicted, changes in the Earth's crust shape can be an indicator that can be monitored through high-precision geodetic measurements with the assistance of global positioning satellites.
Karunia Putri and Sharisya Kusuma Rahmanda contributed to the writing of this article.
Editor's Choice: Megathrust Earthquake Jolts Nicobar Islands, Felt in Banda Aceh: BMKG Reports
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