Magnitude 7.7 (Major)
Date-Time
Monday, July 17, 2006 at 08:19:25 (UTC) = Coordinated Universal Time
Monday, July 17, 2006 at 3:19:25 PM local time at epicenter
Location 9.334=B0S, 107.263=B0E
Depth 10 km (6.2 miles) set by location program
Region SOUTH OF JAVA, INDONESIA
Distances
215 km (135 miles) NE of Christmas Island
245 km (155 miles) SSW of Tasikmalaya, Java, Indonesia
265 km (165 miles) S of Bandung, Java, Indonesia
360 km (220 miles) S of JAKARTA, Java, Indonesia
Location Uncertainty horizontal +/- 10.3 km (6.4 miles); depth fixed by location program
Parameters Nst= 96, Nph= 96, Dmin=>999 km, Rmss=1.11 sec, Gp= 65=B0, M-type=moment magnitude (Mw), Version=9
Source USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)
Event ID usqgaf
* This event has been reviewed by a seismologist
The following is a release by the United States Geological Survey, National Earthquake Information Center: A major earthquake occurred 225 km (140 miles) NE of Christmas Island or 355 km (220 miles) S of Jakarta, Java, Indonesia at 2:19 AM MDT, Jul 17, 2006 (3:19 PM local time in Indonesia). The magnitude and location may be revised when additional data and further analysis results are available.
Felt Reports
At least 100 people killed, 150 injured and many buildings destroyed by a tsunami with wave heights of at least two meters in the Pangandaran area. Felt as far as Jakarta. A tsunami with wave heights of 60 cm reported at Christmas Island.
Tectonic Summary
The earthquake occurred as a result of thrust-faulting on the boundary between the Australia plate and the Sunda plate. On this part of their mutual boundary, the Australia plate moves north-northeast with respect to the Sunda plate at about 59 mm/year. The Australia plate thrusts beneath the Sunda plate at the Java trench, south of Java, and is subducted to progressively greater depths beneath Java and north of Java. The earthquake occurred on the shallow part of the plate boundary, about 50 km north of the Java trench.
The region of the plate boundary between the Australia plate and Sunda plate is seismically highly active. From preliminary results, it appears that today's earthquake is similar to the earthquake of June 2, 1994, magnitude 7.8, which produced a tsunami that had a maximum run-up height of 13 meters and killed over 200 people. That earthquake occurred south of Java about 600 km east-southeast of today's earthquake, also as a result of thrust faulting on the shallow plate boundary. On August 20, 1977, a magnitude 8.3 normal-fault earthquake occurred within the Australia plate about 1200 km east-southeast of today's earthquake, producing a tsunami that had a maximum run-up height of 15 meters and killed almost 200 people. This year's May 26 devastating Yogyakarta earthquake, magnitude 6.3, occurred at shallow depth within the overriding Sunda plate.