1953 Suva earthquake

The earthquake struck just off the southeast shore of Viti Levu, near Suva, with the shaking itself killing three people and seriously injuring twenty. A submarine landslide accompanied the shock, and the catalogue records both the earthquake and the slide as the cause of the wave. A separate tsunami record attributes five deaths to the wave, so the figures differ between accounts.

Date and time (UTC)

1953-09-14T00:26

Highest recorded water height (m)

15

Cause, as the catalogue records it

earthquake and landslide

Magnitude of the causing earthquake

6.4

Deaths, as sources state them

3 killed by the shaking (one tsunami record gives 5 deaths from the wave; estimates differ)

NCEI event page

www.ngdc.noaa.gov/hazel/view/hazards/tsunami/event-more-info/1840

Category: Disasters & Incidents

Tags: earthquake, landslide, fiji, viti levu

Coordinates: -18.3, 178.2

Part of Tsunamis with waves of 15 metres or more from 1950 to 1999

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