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Lisbon Earthquake (Portugal)
On Saturday November 1, 1755, a magnitude 9 earthquake struck Portugal. The earthquake created a tsunami with wave heights of 7 meters (23ft). The catastrophe killed over 20,000 people. The events almost totally destroyed Lisbon and adjoining areas. -
Krakatoa Eruption (Java/Sumatra)
On Sunday August 26, 1883, a violent explosion between Java. and Sumatra caused the top of the volcano to collapse in the ocean. It produced a giant tsunami that destroyed 165 villages and killed more than 360,000 people. Wave heights reached 115 ft. -
Aleutian Earthquake (Alaska)
On April 1, 1946 the Aleutian earthquake struck Alaska. The earthquake had a large magnitude of 8.1. The quake generated a Pacific-wide tsunami. Wave heights reached an estimated 115 feet in Alaska, where the tsunami struck without warning nearly 5 hours after the earthquake. It resulted in about 160 deaths and costed over 26 million dollars of damage. -
Great Chilean Earthquake (Chile)
On Sunday May 22, 1960 an earthquake with a magnitude of 9.5 struck Chile. The tsunami it created traveled 15 hours across the pacific. They severely battered the Chilean coast, with waves up to 25 metres (82 ft). It caused great damage and killed about 61 people. -
Good Friday Earthquake (Alaska)
On Friday March 27, 1964, a magnitude 9.2 earthquake struck Alaska. Across south-central Alaska, ground fissures, collapsing structures, and tsunamis resulting from the earthquake caused about 61 deaths. -
Hokkaido Earthquake (Japan)
On Tuesday July 12 1993, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake in the sea of Japan caused a tsunami killing 120 people. A total of 558 houses were destroyed. There were about $600 million in property losses caused primarily by the tsunami. -
Papua New Guinea Quake
On Friday July 17, 1998, an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.1 hit Papua New Guinea. The earthquake triggered a submarine landslide which produced a tsunami. Over 2100 people were killed. -
Sumatra Earthquake (Indonesia)
On Sunday December 26, 2004 an earthquake with an epicentre off the west coast of northern Sumatra, Indonesia struck. The earthquake had a large magnitude of 9.1. The quake produced a tsunami killing about 230,000 people. Material losses in the Indian Ocean region were around $10 billion. -
Samoa Earthquake (Samoan Islands)
On Tuesday September 29, 2009 a magnitude 8.1 earthquake hit the Samoan Islands. The quake produced a tsunami. The combination of the earthquake, tsunami, and flooding resulted in a devastating amount of damage on the islands with most of the damage caused by the tsunami. A total of 241 homes and one school were destroyed, 3,058 homes and four other schools were damaged.
About 200 lives were lost. -
Chile Earthquake
A magnitude 8.8 earthquake hit Chile in Saturday February 27, 2010. Intense shaking lasted for about three minutes. The quake produced a tsunami killing about 700 people in coastal towns. -
Tohoku Earthquake (Japan)
On Friday March 11, 2011 a magnitude 9.1 hit Japan. The main quake was followed by over 5000 aftershocks. The earthquake triggered powerful tsunami waves that may have reached heights of up to 40.5 metres (133 ft). Over 20,000 people were killed by the disaster.
