July 2006 Java earthquake

earthquake
title= July 2006 Java earthquake
date= [1asdfasdfasdfaasdkjfkasjdfadsfj;fdsa;lfadkljadfslkljkdsfljdsflfkdjs;fasdljkjlkadfskjlafdskljadfsk;jlafds;jlkfadsl;kjadfsdfsa=/news/2006/07/17/utsunami.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/07/17/ixnews.html
date = 2006-07-17
title = Earthquake triggers a tsunami on Java Island
accessdate = 2006-07-17
publisher = Telegraph.co.uk]

The U.S. Geological Survey placed the epicentre of the quake at coord|9.295|S|107.347|E, and its hypocentre at a depth of 48.6 km below the seabed. [cite news
url = http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Quakes/usqgaf.php
date = 2006-07-17
title = Magnitude 7.2 - South of Java, Indonesia
accessdate = 2006-07-17
publisher = USGS Earthquake Hazards Program] This is 225 km (140 miles) NE of Christmas Island, 240 km (150 miles) SSW of Tasikmalaya, Indonesia, and 358 km (222 miles) S of Jakarta, the capital and largest city of Indonesia. [cite news
url = http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601081&sid=ai4kFugB_qmI&refer=australia
date = 2006-07-17
title = Tsunami Warning for Australia, Indonesia After Quake (Update2)
accessdate = 2006-07-17
publisher = Bloomberg]

Cause

According to the U.S. Geological Survey "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." [http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Quakes/usqgaf.php#summary]

Estimated casualties

The Ministry of Health (MOH) reports that approximately 668 people died, 65 are missing and 9,299 are in-treatment because of the disaster.cite news
url =http://www.searo.who.int/en/Section23/Section1108/Section2077_11956.htm
date = 2006-08-03
title = Java Tsunami - Situation Report # 11 – 03 August 2006
accessdate = 2006-08-03
publisher = WHO]

At least three non-Indonesian nationals were among the dead, including travellers from the Netherlands, Pakistan and Sweden. [cite news
url = http://www.canada.com/topics/news/world/story.html?id=105a5e45-f1d2-47d0-94e1-f5e2b866b509&k=19530&p=2
date = 2006-07-18
title = Rescuers search for survivors from Indonesian tsunami as death toll hits 341
accessdate = 2006-07-18
publisher = Canada.com] The Swedish foreign ministry reported that two Swedish children on holiday in the region were missing the first day; [cite news
url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/5189786.stm
date = 2006-07-18
title = Java tsunami death toll increases
accessdate = 2006-07-18
publisher = BBC News] they were later found at safe ground higher up in the community.

Aftershocks

The USGS recorded at least 22 aftershocks south of Java ranging between magnitude also hulk came to life. 4.6 and 6.1. The two largest aftershocks measured 6.0 and 6.1 M_w. [cite news
url = http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Quakes/quakes_all.php
date = 2006-07-18
title = Latest Earthquakes in the World - Past 7 days
accessdate = 2006-07-18
publisher = U.S. Geological Survey]

Tsunami

The July 2006 Java earthquake caused a three-meter-high tsunami which destroyed houses on the south coast of Java, killing at least 668 peoplecite news
url=http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060722/ap_on_re_as/indonesia_tsunami
date = 2006-07-22
title = Death toll from Indonesia tsunami hits 659
accessdate = 2006-07-22
publisher = AP] and leaving at least 65 missing.

The tsunami smashed into a 110-mile stretch of Java’s coastline that was unaffected by the devastating 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake|2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Waves more than 6 feet high reached 200 yards inland in some places, destroying scores of houses, restaurants and hotels. Cars, motorbikes and boats were left mangled amid fishing nets, furniture and other debris. [cite news
url =http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13898913/from/RS.3/
date = 2006-07-19
title = Indonesian tsunami death toll climbs to 550
accessdate = 2006-07-19
publisher = MSNBC]

The tsunami struck the southern Indonesian coastal villages of Cipatujah and Pangandaran on the coast southeast of Bandung and Garut. [cite news
url = http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601081&sid=aURzQyAW9gvk&refer=australia
date = 2006-07-17
title = Tsunami Warning for Australia, Indonesia After Quake (Update4)
accessdate = 2006-07-17
publisher = Bloomberg] There is reportedly extensive damage at the West Java beach resort of Pangandaran. Thousands of people at the resort fled to higher ground.

Localised tsunami

Following the earthquake, the Indonesian Meteorological and Geophysics Agency stated that “There is the possibility of a local tsunami that could affect coasts located usually no more than 100 kilometres from the earthquake epicentre”, indicating the improbability of a large-scale tsunami, like the one that affected Indonesia and other areas following the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake on December 26, 2004. [cite news
url = http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1746185,001301540000.htm
date = 2006-07-17
title = Tsunami hits Indonesia's Java island; five killed
accessdate = 2006-07-17
publisher = Hindustan Times] Despite this, India still issued a tsunami warning for the Andaman Islands archipelago region, which is located in the Bay of Bengal. [cite news
url = http://today.reuters.co.uk/News/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-07-17T115724Z_01_DEL243846_RTRUKOC_0_UK-INDIA-TSUNAMI-WARNING.xml
date = 2006-07-17
title = India issues tsunami warning for Andaman islands
accessdate = 2006-07-17
publisher = Reuters] This archipelago suffered severe damage in the December 26, 2004 tsunami. A warning was also issued for Christmas Island, however police reports from the island say that no damage was caused. [cite news
url = http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=1040862006
date = 2006-07-17
title = Tsunami hits Indonesia's Java
accessdate = 2006-07-17
publisher = Scotsman News] A mere 60 cm tsunami was recorded at the Bureau of Meteorology’s tide gauge on the island. A warning was also issued for the Kimberley region of Western Australia. [cite news
url = http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,19824243-2,00.html
date = 2006-07-17
title = Quake sparks WA tsunami warning
accessdate = 2006-07-17
publisher = News.com.au]

Warning

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii issued a Tsunami bulletin 12 minutes after the earthquake alerting Indonesia (Java) and Australia (Christmas Island) to a possible local tsunami affecting coasts within a 100 km radius from the quake epicentre. The bulletin gave an estimated tsunami impact time for Indonesia of 09:00 UTC, an advanced warning of 24 minutes. It suggested that based on historical data, the risk of a destructive widespread tsunami was non-existent. The second bulletin issued two and a half hours later confirmed the occurrence of local tsunami by the news media and the reiteration that a more widespread tsunami was non-existent.

Kusmayanto Kadiman, the State Minister for Research and Technology confirmed that Indonesian officials had received bulletins from both the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii and the Japan Meteorological Agency twenty minutes before the first tsunami wave struck. [cite news
url = http://travel.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,1823259,00.html?gusrc=rss
date = 2006-07-18
title = Officials failed to pass on tsunami warning
accessdate = 2006-07-18
publisher = Guardian Unlimited] However, Kadiman indicated that the government did not publicise the bulletins because they did not want to cause unnecessary alarm. According to an AP report, he had stated the bulletins were received 45 minutes before the tsunami hit. [cite news
url = http://us.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/07/19/indonesia.earthquake/index.html
date = 2006-07-19
title = Java death toll tops 500
accessdate = 2006-07-19
publisher = CNN] He later stated that warnings were issued seven minutes before incident via text messaging [cite news
url = http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailheadlines.asp?fileid=20060720.B04&irec=3
date = 2006-07-20
title = Minister admits tsunami warning came too late
accessdate = 2006-07-20
publisher = The Jakarta Post] but that it was not enough time to alert local communities.

Edi Prihantoro, an official at Indonesia’s Ministry of Research and Technology that oversees a national warning project, said the southern Java area had no system to warn people of coming waves.

As part of a five-year project to install tsunami buoys around the archipelago, Indonesia deployed two such devices off the island of Sumatra last year. However, when asked how many of the deployed devices were operational, Prihantoro replied: “None.” He continued, “We need at least 22 buoys to cover all of Indonesia. We have received two from Germany and they were deployed months ago. However, both of them are damaged now.” Both devices have since been decommissioned and one of them is awaiting repairs. [cite news
url = http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13918266/
date = 2006-07-18
title = Indonesia’s 2 tsunami alert buoys were busted
accessdate = 2006-07-18
publisher = MS/NBC]

Evacuation

At least 23,000 people did eventually evacuate the coast, either afraid that more tsunami were coming or because their homes had been destroyed. [cite news
url = http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060717/indonesia_quake_060717/20060717?hub=TopStories
date = 2006-07-18
title = At least 306 dead as tsunami hits Java island
accessdate = 2006-07-19
publisher = CTV.ca]

References

External links

* [http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/eqinthenews/2006/usqgaf/ U.S. Geological Survey]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/5189948.stm Photographs of the effect of the tsunami of 17 July 2006 on Pangandaran from BBC news]
* [http://www.envirtech.org/envirtech_tsunameter.htm Envirtech Tsunami Warning System, based on real time seafloor observatories measuring seismic waves and sea levels]