Darilaut – The Student Community Service program (KKN) is a component of the academic curriculum for earning course credits, including at Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta (UMY). This year, one of the UMY KKN service locations is in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) Province.
A total of 61 UMY KKN students were deployed to West Manggarai Regency and East Manggarai Regency in NTT.
The KKN team was divided into two groups. The first group, Gema Pelita Nusantara (GPN), consisted of 26 students assigned to Macang Tanggar Village, Komodo District, West Manggarai Regency.
The second group, Proyek Ekspedisi Nusantara (PENA), consisted of 35 students assigned to Nanga Mbaling Village, Sambi Rampas District, East Manggarai Regency.
On Saturday morning (August 15), as usual, the UMY KKN students on cooking duty were preparing breakfast. Suddenly, there were strong vibrations and rolling ground motion. The earthquake’s shaking was intense.
A massive earthquake with a magnitude (M) of 7.7 struck East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) at 04:58:24 WIB (Western Indonesian Time) or 05:58:24 WITA (Central Indonesian Time). The epicenter of this powerful quake was located 30 km northeast of Mbay, Nagekeo Regency.
Based on the shaking intensity map from the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), the strongest shaking reached Modified Mercalli Intensity (MMI) scale VII in the areas of Aesesa (Nagekeo Regency), Riung (Ngada Regency), and Kota Ambai, as well as in areas where direct micro-observations were conducted in the Manggarai and Ruteng regions. MMI scale VI was recorded in Wolowae (Nagekeo) and Bajawa City, while MMI scale V was felt in several surrounding areas. The UMY Community Service (KKN) students experienced more than just ground shifting and intense shaking; shortly thereafter, the hamlet head—in the area where they were conducting their service—directed them to head immediately for the hills.
