7.2 Earthquake in Java Indonesia

Posted on September 8, 2007
Filed Under Indonesia, News

UPI reports that an earthquake measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale shook the Indonesian island of Java Monday, spawning a tsunami that killed at least five people.

Government geologists told the Antara news service the center of the tremor was around 385 miles south of Bandung 20 miles below sea level.

The southern coast of Java and Australia’s Christmas Island were included in a tsunami warning from Hawaii’s Tsunami Warning Center, Voice of America reported.

Buildings in Jakarta, some 200 miles away, swayed but there was no immediate report of damage, the report said. At least two aftershocks were reported, local media said

Is it Tsunami threat?

Malaysia’s BERNAMA news agency reports that “Based on its location and magnitude, the earthquake posed no tsunami threat.”

A strong earthquake, measuring 7.2 on the Richter Scale, occurred at 4.19pm Monday in the South of Java, Indonesia, the Meteorological Services Department said Monday.

It said the earthquake was located 269km southwest of Bandung, 1,247km southwest of Kuching, at coordinates 9.3 south, 107.3 east.

Here a Preliminary Earthquake Report from USGS.gov, interesting to note however that it predicts the tremor much lower that the aforementioned statements that is 5.9 richter scale.

Magnitude 5.9 SOUTH OF JAVA, INDONESIA
Monday, July 17, 2006 at 11:07:37 UTC

Magnitude 5.9
Date-Time Monday, July 17, 2006 at 11:07:37 (UTC) - Coordinated Universal Time
Monday, July 17, 2006 at 06:07:37 PM local time at epicenter
Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
Location 9.49S 107.73E
Depth 40.7 kilometers
Region SOUTH OF JAVA, INDONESIA
Reference 245 km (150 miles) SSW of Tasikmalaya, Java, Indonesia
250 km (155 miles) ENE of Christmas Island
280 km (175 miles) S of Bandung, Java, Indonesia
385 km (240 miles) SSE of JAKARTA, Java, Indonesia

Location Quality Error estimate: horizontal +/- 10.9 km; depth fixed by location program
Location Quality
Parameters Nst=36, Nph=49, Dmin=1242.3 km, Rmss=1.03 sec, Erho=10.9 km, Erzz=0 km, Gp=77.7 degrees
Source USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)
Jul 17, 2006