Tsunamis
Walls of water thrown across whole oceans by quakes and landslides — the 2004 Indian Ocean and 2011 Tōhoku catastrophes and the tsunamis of history.
Part of Natural Disasters
39 moments in this segment.
- — The Storegga Slide tsunami. Around 6100 BC a colossal submarine landslide off Norway sent a tsunami across the North Sea, drowning the land bridge of Doggerland.
- — The 365 AD Crete earthquake & tsunami. A massive quake off Crete sent a tsunami that devastated the eastern Mediterranean, including Alexandria.
- — The 684 Hakuhō earthquake. Japan's oldest recorded tsunami followed the Hakuhō earthquake in the 7th century.
- — The 869 Jōgan tsunami. A great tsunami flooded the Sendai plain in 869 — a warning from history ignored before 2011.
- — The 1703 Genroku tsunami. An earthquake off Japan's Boso peninsula sent a tsunami into Edo-era coastal towns.
- — The 1707 Hōei earthquake. Japan's largest pre-modern earthquake sent a tsunami along the Pacific coast and preceded an eruption of Mount Fuji.
- — The 1867 Virgin Islands tsunami. An earthquake sent a tsunami through the Virgin Islands and the eastern Caribbean in 1867.
- — The 1868 Arica earthquake and tsunami. A great earthquake off Peru (now Chile) sent a tsunami that carried a US warship inland at Arica.
- — The 1883 Krakatoa tsunami. Krakatoa's eruption generated tsunamis up to 30 metres high that killed over 36,000 around the Sunda Strait.
- — The 1896 Meiji Sanriku tsunami. A tsunami struck Japan's Sanriku coast during a festival, killing over 22,000 — the modern origin of the word 'tsunami' worldwide.
- — The tsunami that changed Hawaii. The 1946 tsunami's surprise attack on Hilo led to the founding of the Pacific Tsunami Warning System.
- — The 1960 Pacific tsunami. The Valdivia quake sent tsunamis across the Pacific that killed people in Chile, Hawaii, Japan and the Philippines.
- — The 1979 Tumaco tsunami. An earthquake off Colombia and Ecuador sent a tsunami into the town of Tumaco in 1979.
- — The tsunami reaches Africa. The 2004 tsunami crossed the entire Indian Ocean, killing people in Somalia, Kenya and Tanzania hours later.
- — The 2006 Java tsunami. A tsunami struck the southern coast of Java, Indonesia, catching beachgoers by surprise.
- — The 2007 Solomon Islands tsunami. An earthquake sent a tsunami into the Solomon Islands, lifting reefs out of the sea.
- — The 2009 Samoa tsunami. An earthquake sent tsunami waves into Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga, killing over 180.
- — The 2010 Chile tsunami. The great 2010 Chile earthquake sent a tsunami that devastated coastal towns like Constitución and Dichato.
- — The 2011 Tōhoku tsunami. A magnitude 9.0 quake off Japan sent a wall of water over the coast, killing nearly 20,000 and triggering the Fukushima nuclear meltdown.
- — The 1958 Lituya Bay megatsunami. A landslide into Lituya Bay, Alaska, generated the highest wave ever recorded — 524 metres — stripping the shoreline bare.
- — The 1992 Nicaragua tsunami. A 'tsunami earthquake' — barely felt but deadly — sent waves into Nicaragua's Pacific coast in 1992.
- — The 2017 Greenland tsunami. A landslide into a fjord sent a tsunami into the village of Nuugaatsiaq in Greenland in 2017.
- — The 2018 Palu tsunami. A quake and a fast, unexpected tsunami struck Palu on Sulawesi, Indonesia, killing over 4,000 — worsened by ground liquefaction that swallowed neighbourhoods.
- — The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. A magnitude 9.1 quake off Sumatra sent tsunamis across the Indian Ocean, killing around 227,000 people in 14 countries — the deadliest tsunami in recorded history.
- — The 2018 Sunda Strait tsunami. A flank collapse of Anak Krakatau sent a tsunami with no warning onto Java and Sumatra, killing over 400.
- — The 1929 Grand Banks tsunami. A quake-triggered submarine landslide sent a tsunami to Newfoundland, killing 28 — the deadliest in Canadian history.
- — The 1946 Aleutian tsunami. A quake in the Aleutians sent a tsunami that killed 159 in Hilo, Hawaii, leading to the Pacific Tsunami Warning System.
- — The 2022 Tonga eruption & tsunami. The Hunga Tonga volcano erupted with the force of a huge bomb, sending a tsunami and a pressure wave around the entire planet.
- — The 1952 Kamchatka tsunami. A great earthquake off Kamchatka sent a Pacific-wide tsunami that struck Hawaii and the Kuril Islands.
- — The tsunami hits Thailand. Tourists on Thai beaches filmed the sea withdraw and return as a wall of water on Boxing Day 2004.
- — The 1964 Alaska tsunamis. The Good Friday quake's tsunamis destroyed Alaskan and Pacific coast towns from Valdez to Crescent City.
- — The 1993 Okushiri tsunami. A tsunami struck the small Japanese island of Okushiri within minutes of an earthquake, killing about 200.
- — The 1908 Messina tsunami. The great Messina earthquake sent a tsunami up to 12 metres high into the Strait, adding to the catastrophe.
- — The 1999 Vanuatu tsunami. An earthquake sent a tsunami into Pentecost Island in Vanuatu in 1999, a warning acted on by local knowledge.
- — The 1956 Amorgos tsunami. An earthquake in the Aegean sent a tsunami into the Greek Cyclades islands in 1956.
- — The 1946 Nankaidō tsunami. A great earthquake off southern Japan sent a tsunami along the coast just after the war.
- — The 1946 Aleutian tsunami at Scotch Cap. The tsunami that destroyed Hawaii in 1946 first swept away the Scotch Cap lighthouse in Alaska.
- — The İzmit tsunami. The 1999 İzmit earthquake in Turkey generated a local tsunami in the Sea of Marmara.
- — The 1998 Papua New Guinea tsunami. A submarine landslide sent a tsunami into Papua New Guinea's coast, killing over 2,000.
