most damaging tsunamis

Lisbon Earthquake (Portugal)

Nov 1, 1755

the earthquake that hit Portugal in 1755 had a very high magnitude of 9. 75,000 people were killed because of the earthquake and the tsunami that followed very soon afterward. The tsunami was 12 meters high and when it hit the city, a fire broke out that managed to burn the entire city.

Krakatoa Eruption (Java/Sumatra)

Aug 26, 1883

This eruption destroyed 165 villages and killed about 36,000 people. Even though the volcano was said to have erupted, it actually did not. The volcano collapsed in on itself. It had a vei of 6.

Aleutian Earthquake (Alaska)

Apr 1, 1946

This earthquake had a magnitude of 8.1. 160 people lost their lives because of the earthquake and tsunami. The tsunami destroyed several houses and towns. The earthquake in Alaska was so large that it was picked up around the world.

Great Chilean Earthquake (Chile)

May 23, 1960

This earthquake was the most powerful earthquake ever recorded. It had a magnitude of 9.5 and killed 61 people in Hawaii. The earthquake that hit Chile caused a tsunami that was over 25 meters high.

Good Friday Earthquake (Alaska)

Mar 27, 1964

130 people died because of this Earthquake that had a magnitude of 9.2. Anchorage Alaska suffered numerous landslides because of the earthquake. Most of the deaths were caused by the tsunamis, not by the earthquake itself.

Hokkaido Earthquake (Japan)

Jul 12, 1993

The Hokkaido Earthquake had a magnitude of 7.8 and killed 120 people. The quake caused fires to start in the city. The earthquake caused a displacement of 25 meters on the fault line.

Papua New Guinea Quake

Jul 17, 1998

This earthquake triggered a submarine landslide that caused a tsunami. The tsunami was comprised of 3 waves that were each about 4 meters high. The death toll caused by the earthquake was 2,100 people.

Sumatra Earthquake (Indonesia)

Dec 26, 2004

This earthquake that hit Indonesia, also hit 13 other countries. It had an extremely high magnitude of 9.1 with a very large death toll of 227, 898 people. This death rate was so high because the standard of living was very poor.

Samoa Earthquake

Sep 29, 2009

This earthquake that hit the Samoa Islands in 2009, had a magnitude of 8.1. The tsunami killed 189 people. This earthquake was a submarine earthquake. The tsunami that hit the islands measured 46 feet at its highest point.

Chile earthquake

Feb 27, 2010

The earthquake that hit Chile in 2010, had a magnitude of 8.8 and killed about 700 people. About 400,000 homes were destroyed by the earthquake, yet the tsunami that soon followed did not cause much destruction.

Tohoku Earthquake

Mar 11, 2011

Very often, this earthquake is called and known as "The Great East Japan Earthquake." The earthquake had a magnitude of 9.0 and it caused a very large nuclear meltdown. The death toll caused by this earthquake was 15,897 people.

Sulawesi Earthquake

Sep 27, 2018

This tsunami reached only about three meters high and happened to destroy the majority of the poor villages in Indonesia. The earthquake had a magnitude of 7.5 and killed 1,374 people.