Tsunamis with waves of 15 metres or more from 1800 to 1899

Map of 12 locations · Worldwide

Nineteenth-century tsunamis whose recorded run-up reached at least fifteen metres somewhere along the shore, pinned at the source that raised the wave rather than the coast it struck. The causes include subduction-zone ruptures, volcanic collapse and rockslides into enclosed bays. All are historical events, documented in contemporary accounts, ships' records and later scientific reconstructions.

Places in this collection

  • 1899 Yakutat Bay earthquakes — A series of large earthquakes in 1899 affected southeastern Alaska near Yakutat and Disenchantment Bays. The largest of the series, on 10 S…
  • 1896 Sanriku earthquake — The earthquake struck at 19:32 local time on 15 June off the Sanriku coast of Honshu, while communities along that coast were celebrating a…
  • 1888 Ritter Island eruption and tsunami — On the morning of 13 March 1888 a section of Ritter Island, a small volcanic island off the coast of New Guinea, collapsed into the sea in…
  • 1877 Iquique earthquake — The earthquake struck at 21:16 local time on 9 May off northern Chile, and the tsunami that followed affected the coasts of Peru and northe…
  • 1871 Ruang eruption and tsunami — The eruption at Ruang volcano in the Molucca Sea began on 3 March 1871 and ended on 14 March. The tsunami it raised struck neighbouring Tag…
  • 1868 Arica earthquake — The earthquake struck near Arica on 13 August 1868, in territory then part of Peru and now part of Chile. It generated a tsunami noted acro…
  • 1867 Keelung earthquake — The earthquake struck off the northern coast of Taiwan on the morning of 18 December. The tsunami that followed had a run-up exceeding 15 m…
  • 1867 Virgin Islands earthquake and tsunami — The earthquake struck at 14:45 local time on 18 November in the Anegada Passage, about 20 km southwest of Saint Thomas in the Danish West I…
  • 1854 Tōkai earthquake — The first of the Ansei great earthquakes struck at about 09:00 local time on 23 December 1854, with much of central Japan shaken at JMA int…
  • 1853 Lituya Bay landslide and tsunami — A tsunami is understood to have occurred on 1 January 1853 in Lituya Bay, then part of Russian America. Written records of it are scant, bu…
  • 1841 Kamchatka earthquake — The rupture occurred in the Pacific at 08:00 local time on 17 May and was associated with thrust faulting on the subduction zone near the e…
  • 1820 Flores Sea earthquake and tsunami — A strong earthquake in the Flores Sea on 29 December 1820 raised a tsunami that reached the coasts of Flores and as far as South Sulawesi.…

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