SEAToday.com, Jatinangor-At least 31 people were injured and five sub-districts were affected by a tornado that struck Sumedang-Bandung Regency, West Java, on Wednesday (2/21). The incident occurred in two sub-districts in Sumedang Regency, namely Jatinangor and Cimanggung sub-districts, and three sub-districts in Bandung Regency, namely Cileunyi, Rancaekek, and Cicalengka sub-districts.

 The West Java Provincial Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) reported that at least 17 factories, 97 houses, and three mosques were damaged by the incident. Several medium-voltage transmission lines (SUTM) were also affected.

Erma Yulihastin, a researcher at the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), described the strong winds in Rancaekek as the first tornado in Indonesia. Erma mentioned that the duration of the disaster was longer than the tornadoes that have occurred in Indonesia. However, she did not provide exact data on the wind speed, diameter, and trigger of the tornado.

"Research team from BRIN will immediately conduct reconstruction and investigation of the Rancaekek tornado today (21/2)," said Erma. "Tornado effects: different from tornadoes, tornadoes have a higher wind strength scale and a wider radius. Tornadoes have a minimum wind speed of 70 km/h. In our study at BRIN, the strongest tornado winds were 56 km/h. Have you seen the 1996 film Twister?"

According to the BMKG website, tornadoes, cyclones, and waterspouts are both atmospheric whirlwinds. The difference is in the size of the diameter. The diameter of tornadoes, twisters, and waterspouts are all around hundreds of meters, while the diameter of cyclones can reach hundreds of kilometres.

For tornadoes, BMKG says they can reach hundreds of metres in diameter with a duration of 3 minutes to more than an hour. Puting beliung is the local name for small-scale tornadoes that occur in Indonesia, and a water spout is a tornado that occurs over water, (can be a lake or sea). (DHITA/DKD)