Significant earthquakes of 2020

May 29, 2020 Earthquake: Ijen, Java, Indonesia

May 29, 2020 · 1 death

An earthquake struck Ijen, Java, Indonesia on May 29, 2020 at 05:30 UTC. It killed 1 person, counting the tsunami it caused.

Map

Where it struck, with the other significant earthquakes within 200 km. Circles are sized and colored by magnitude; select one for its page.

The earthquake

Date
May 29, 2020
Time
05:30 UTC
Place
Ijen, Java, Indonesia
Epicenter
8.058° S, 114.242° E
Country
Indonesia

The toll

Deaths
1 with its tsunami and other effects

Where the literature gives no number, NCEI records a description on a scale of 1 to 4, printed here in its words. Damage is in millions of US dollars of the year of the event, not adjusted for inflation.

What the record says

NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.

A sulfur miner was killed when volcanic activity at Mount Ijen in East Java released poisonous gas and triggered a 3-meter wave in a natural lake situated within the volcano's crater on Friday afternoon. The tremor occurred within the mountain at 12:30, resulting in toxic air and an isolated wave from the lake in the crater, kompas.com reported. (reference #12718)

[Mt. Ijen] Earthquakes are dominated by very shallow earthquake[...]where the number of events per day fluctuates (5 events / day) and tremors of short duration (1 to 5 minutes)[...]Based on visual and instrumental observations as of May 29, 2020, volcanic seismic energy has not shown a significant increase.(reference #12719, unofficial English translation)

Other significant earthquakes nearby

Within 200 km, the deadliest first.

More

Significant earthquakes of 2020The 2000sEvery quake the USGS located in 2020Recent earthquakes near hereThis day in weather history

Sources

Significant earthquakes from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, Global Historical Hazard Database, cited as NCEI/WDS, doi:10.7289/V5PN93H7. Public domain. Read 2026-09-24. NCEI earthquake 10501.