The 2006 Java tsunami occurred off the coast of Java, Indonesia.
On July 17, 2006, a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck beneath the Indian Ocean near the southern coast of Java. The earthquake happened along the Sunda Trench, where the Australian Plate is being forced beneath the Indonesian region. Its unusually slow rupture produced a tsunami that was larger than many people would have expected from the earthquake’s magnitude.
The waves inundated roughly 300 kilometers of Java’s coast, including areas near Pangandaran, a popular resort destination. Run-up was generally around 5 meters, with locally much higher measurements reported on or near Nusa Kambangan. More than 600 people died, and thousands were injured.
The event is often called a “tsunami earthquake” because the shaking was relatively weak while the tsunami was destructive. That mismatch left coastal communities with little natural warning before the waves arrived.