Meaning of the word epicenter, a term commonly referred to when an earthquake occurs

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When an earthquake occurs, the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency or BMKG often issues the term epicenter to determine where the earthquake is located. Not only that, during a pandemic, the term epicenter also often appears to indicate a country or region with the most and prominent spread of Covid-19.


Meaning of the word epicenter
According to the Big Indonesian Dictionary (KBBI) the epicenter is the point on the earth’s surface that is located perpendicular to the center of the earthquake in the earth. In other words, BMKG usually refers to the epicenter to indicate the epicenter of an earthquake in an area. While quoted from USA Today, the term epicenter was also explained during a pandemic by the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr Anthony Fauci.
According to him, the term epicenter of the pandemic emerged when the spread of the corona virus began to spread in Wuhan, Italy, New York, to India. The term epicenter is intended to mark the point of an area where cases of virus transmission are very large.

The term epicenter has been used by Indonesia


The term epicenter was even associated with the City of Jakarta in the 2020 period, when cases of positive corona patients experienced a high increase. Likewise, the cities and regencies of Bogor, Depok, and Bekasi (Bodebek) were once the areas with the most positive cases of COVID-19 in West Java (Jabar) Province at the end of 2020. At that time, Bodebek became the epicenter of Covid-19 transmission because based on data compiled by the Ministry of Health, the region contributed 75 percent of COVID-19 cases in West Java. What is the difference with the Hypocenter?
In addition to the term epicenter, usually when a disaster occurs, BMKG also mentions another term, namely hypocenter.
If the epicenter is the epicenter of the earthquake that is above the earth’s surface, the hypocenter according to the KBBI is the center of the earthquake that is below or within the earth’s surface. Usually, when an earthquake occurs in an area, the BMKG will also include data related to the depth of the epicenter that occurred.

The term epicenter is usually described by the geographical location of the mention of the north/south latitude and east/west longitude. While the term hypocenter is usually described with depth in meters or kilometers.