Back in time
Tsunamis in history
Every tsunami in NOAA’s Global Historical Tsunami Database, the oldest raised by the eruption of Thera around 1610 BCE, each placed at the area of its source.
Open the live mapWhat you see
- Tsunamis alone, as natural-hazard marks at their source; History’s panel can add the quakes and eruptions that raised them.
- Click one for the deaths, the highest water and the number of places where the water was measured.
- Opened from this page, the map plays 1800 to today.
Where the data comes from
- NOAA NCEIThe Global Historical Tsunami Database, with the runups observed for each event.
NOAA adds tsunamis as it reviews them; TAKIP takes them when the set is imported again.
Good to know
- About one in four records any deaths.
- Japan alone holds about one in seven.
- About 400 are from before 1800, known from written accounts.
- The Wikipedia article, where there is one, is usually the earthquake’s.
The first recorded here in each century
- Tsunami — Lake Geneva563 · Tsunami
- Tsunami — Nankaido29 Nov 684 · Tsunami
- Tsunami — Sea Of Japan12 May 701 · Tsunami
- Tsunami — Israel And Egyptian Coasts8 Apr 881 · Tsunami
- Tsunami — Kumanonada922 · Tsunami
- Tsunami — Enshunada17 Dec 1096 · Tsunami
- Tsunami — Calabrian Arc11 Feb 1169 · Tsunami
- Tsunami — Southwestern Syria20 May 1202 · Tsunami
- Tsunami — Bay Of Naples25 Nov 1343 · Tsunami
- Tsunami — Syria1402 · Tsunami
- Tsunami — Beppu Bay, Kyushu4 Sep 1596 · Tsunami
- en la isla de Ambon, en Indonesia, se registra un terremoto de 6,8 que provoca un gran tsunami que deja más de 2000 muertos17 Feb 1674 · Tsunami
- Tsunami — Shimabara Bay, Kyushu Island21 May 1792 · Tsunami
- Tsunami — South Island31 Mar 1869 · Tsunami
- Tsunami — French Riviera (Ligurian Sea)16 Oct 1979 · Tsunami
- Tsunami — Hokkaido Island14 Mar 2012 · Tsunami
Goes well with
Earthquakes in historyAbout 13,800 earthquakes on one map: NOAA’s significant quakes from around 2150 BCE, Europe’s from 1000 to 1899 from EPICA, and USGS quakes since 2026.
Volcanic eruptions in historyAbout 11,500 eruptions from the Smithsonian’s Global Volcanism Program and NOAA, most from the last 12,000 years, with each eruption’s size (VEI) where known.
Tropical cyclones since 1842More than 13,000 hurricanes, typhoons and cyclones from 1842 to today from IBTrACS, each drawn along its track, with a dot where its winds peaked.