May 2006 Java Earthquake

The death toll from the earthquake that rocked Indonesia's main island of Java at the weekend has risen to at least 5,846, the social affairs ministry said.

The ministry had previously put the death toll from the catastrophe at 5,698.

The majority of those killed in Saturday's 6.3-magnitude quake -- 3,580 people -- lived in Bantul district, south of the central city of Yogyakarta, while 1,668 others died in Klaten district, in Central Java province, according to the latest data released by the ministry.

The M 7.6 West Java earthquake on August 8 was detected, located and sized after only 4 minutes and 38 seconds by the German Tsunami Early Warning System (GITEWS) currently under construction in Indonesia.

The location of the earthquake had been established after just 2 minutes and 11 seconds. For comparison: The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) in Hawaii published the location and magnitude of this earthquake after about 17 minutes.

The earthquake that hit Indonesia at the end of May has caused more damage than the tsunami. Estimates released by the Indonesian Development Ministry amount to 3.1 billion dollars, more than double initial assessments.

The World Bank said the impact of the Java earthquake was much worse than first thought and could be considered as one of the worst natural disasters of the past 10 years.

Although the death toll (5,800) is lower than that of the 2004 tsunami or the 2005 earthquake in Kashmir, the cost of damaged housing is far greater.

The May 2006 Java earthquake occurred at 05:54 local time on 27 May 2006 (22:54 GMT 26 May), in the Indian Ocean around 25 km (15 miles) south-southwest of the Indonesian city of Yogyakarta, near Galur, on the southern side of the island of Java (7.962°S 110.458°E), 10 km below the seabed, with a magnitude of 6.3, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Two aftershocks, measured at 4.8 and 4.6, occurred between 4 and 6 hours later.