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Lisbon Earthquake, Portugal
This M9 earthquake struck during an important religious holiday, the Feast of All Saints, at 9:40pm on November 1, 1755. A slip of the Azores-Gibraltar transform fault caused the largest tsunami ever to hit Europe. The tsunami drained water from the Rio Tejo estuary, revealing shipwrecks loaded with treasures. The flooding and subsequent fires destroyed most churches in the Roman Catholic city and killed 20,000 people. -
Krakatoa Volcano, Indonesia
The volcano erupted in the Sundra Strait between Java and Sumatra on August 27. The tsunami hit 30 hours later. The wave was 30m tall and washed away 165 coastal villages. 36,000 people were killed in this disaster. -
Aleutians Earthquake, Alaska
This M8.1 megathrust earthquake struck at 4:28am and caused a Pacific-wide tsunami. Waves reached as high as 42m and impacted the Hawaiian Islands, French Polynesia, Easter Island in Chile, New Zealand, Samoa, and North American states such as California. Remarkably, only 160 people died. -
Valdivia Earthquake, Chile
Also known as the Great Chilean Earthquake, this M9.5 earthquake was the largest ever recorded. The rupture zone stretched 1000km along the coast of southern Chile. The massive tsunami that followed affected countries as far away as New Zealand, Japan, the Philippines and the Hawaiian Islands in the U.S. Over two million were left homeless and over $2 billion in damages occurred. Despite the severity of the event, only 61 people were killed. -
Great Alaskan Earthquake, Alaska
Also known as the Good Friday Earthquake, this M9.2 event happened at 5:36pm. The initial shaking lasted an incredible four minutes, and thousands of aftershocks continued for weeks, some up to M6.2. The Alaskan coast sunk 8' in some parts and rose 38' in others. Much of the coast moved 50' toward the ocean. Soil liquefaction triggered a huge landslide in Anchorage. The tsunami caused significant damage in Washington, Oregon and California. 130 people died. -
Sea of Japan Earthquake, Japan
This M7.8 earthquake occurred at 1:17pm. The resulting tsunami struck Okushiri Island less that four minutes later. Mudslides and fires followed, and 120 people were killed. After the disaster, the government of Japan installed two sluice gates to mitigate the impact of future tsunamis. -
Papua New Guinea Earthquake
This M7.1 earthquake occurred at 5:49pm. It was caused by a submarine landslide, which then caused a tsunami to form. It arrived ten minutes later than predicted and consisted of three waves, the highest recorded at 15m. The waves hit 15 miles of coastline, including the villages of Sissano, Warapu, Arop, and Malomo. 2100 people died. -
Sumatra Earthquake
This M9.1 earthquake and the resulting tsunami killed 230,000 people and caused $10 billion in damages. The tsunami waves were 20-40m high and killed more people than any other tsunami in recorded history. Fatalities from this far-reaching disaster occurred in Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Somalia, Maldives, Malaysia, Myanmar, Tanzania, Bangladesh, Seychelles, South Africa, Yemen and Kenya. -
Samoa Earthquake
This earthquake had a magnitude of 8.1 and struck at 1:48pm. This was an outer-rise earthquake, which is not a common cause of tsunamis. When tsunamis do occur, they are devastating, as was the case with this event. Runups exceed 17m, and 200 people died. -
Chile Earthquake
This M8.8 earthquake caused a tsunami that hit the central-south region of Chile. The waves arrived 2.5 - 4.5 hours after the main shock and were as high as 14m. Over 12 million people experienced the earthquake and 81,000 homes were destroyed. 700 people were killed. -
Japan Earthquake
This M9.1 earthquake, also called the Great Sendai Earthquake or the Great Tohoku Earthquake, caused a major nuclear earthquake when the Fukushima power station flooded. Sudden vertical thrusting of the Pacific Plate caused a massive tsunami, measuring 10m high. Waves reached over 9km inland and affected the Hawaiian Islands, the Aleutian Island chain, California, Oregon and Antarctica. 20,000 people died as a result of the catastrophe.
