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Tsunami Timelines

  • Lisbon Earthquake (Portugal)

    Lisbon Earthquake (Portugal)
    The magnitude of this earthquake was 9 and it killed 20,000 people. The Lisbon earthquake destroyed 70% of Libson buildings, such as libraries and 16th-century architecture. The royal family was able to escape the earthquake without being harmed.
  • Krakatoa Eruption (Java/Sumatra)

    Krakatoa Eruption (Java/Sumatra)
    This eruption had a VEI of 6 and had a death toll of 36,000. Krakatoa was but a small, uninhabited island, about five miles long and three miles wide. It had two elevations, of which the taller, called the Peak of Krakatoa, rose 2750 feet above the sea. On the evening of May 21st smoke was seen issuing from Krakatoa, and on the 22d it was evident that the volcanic vent was at that place.
  • Aleutian Earthquake (Alaska)

    Aleutian Earthquake (Alaska)
    The Aleutian Earthquake had a magnitude of 8.1 and a death toll of 160 people. The earthquake was originally thought to be a strike-slip earthquake, and later a strike-slip earthquake with a normal faulting component. This event shows the classic signs of a tsunami earthquake as the surface-wave magnitude was very low compared to the moment and tsunami magnitudes, and the tsunami height was far larger than expected for the surface-wave magnitude.
  • Great Chilean Earthquake (Chile)

    Great Chilean Earthquake (Chile)
    The earthquake had a huge magnitude of 9.2 and had a death toll of 61 people. The magnitude of this earthquake is the strongest to have ever struck Chile. According to estimates from the Chilean government, about 58,000 homes were entirely destroyed and close to two million people were homeless.
  • Good Friday Earthquake (Alaska)

    Good Friday Earthquake (Alaska)
    The Good Friday Earthquake had a huge magnitude of 9.2 and had a death toll of 130 people. The Valdez waterfront area was washed away by an underwater landslide induced by this earthquake. The state was completely devastated by the earthquake, and California and Hawaii also felt its aftershocks.
  • Hokkiado Earthquake (Japan)

    Hokkiado Earthquake (Japan)
    The Earthquake in Japan had a magnitude of 7.8 and a death toll of 120. Although the nation's capital remained unaffected, parts of northern Honshu, the nation's largest island, where Tokyo is located, was also shaken. Positioned on the Pacific Ring of Fire, an arc of severe seismic activity around the Pacific basin, Japan is among the most earthquake-prone countries in the world.
  • Papua New Guinea Earthquake (Papua New Guinea)

    Papua New Guinea Earthquake (Papua New Guinea)
    This earthquake had a magnitude of 7.1 and a death toll of 2,100 people. While frequent, Papua New Guinea earthquakes seldom result in extensive damage. A few minutes later, an equivalent magnitude aftershock occurred off the coast of Madang.
  • Sumatra Earthquake (Indonesia)

    Sumatra Earthquake (Indonesia)
    The Sumatra Earthquake had a magnitude of 9.1 and killed 230,000 people. The following day, around 8.25 am, another unrelated 6.8-magnitude earthquake occurred 1000 km south of the same epicenter; it did not, however, cause any immediate damage or casualties. Not only did Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, the Maldives, Myanmar, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and Thailand feel the tremors, but so did Indonesia.
  • Samoa Earthquake (Samoan Islands)

    Samoa Earthquake (Samoan Islands)
    The Samoa Earthquake had a magnitude of 8.1 and killed 200 people. A tsunami that is believed to have killed 32 people was caused by a succession of enormous waves that followed the earthquake. The island country of American Samoa is part of the US. Much devastation or damage was done to Tutuila's coastal areas and nearby islands.
  • Chile Earthquake (Chile)

    Chile Earthquake (Chile)
    The Chile Earthquake had a magnitude of 8.8 and killed 700 people. Because of the region's severe tectonic past, seismologists have focused their research and surveillance there, making it possible to identify minute changes in the locations of cities affected by the earthquake, such as Concepción and even Buenos Aires. The earthquake was the biggest to hit the area since the 1960 event, which was registered at magnitude 9.5 and is regarded as the most violent earthquake ever.
  • Tohoku Earthquake (Japan)

    Tohoku Earthquake (Japan)
    The Tohoku Earthquake had a magnitude of 9.1 and had 20,000 deaths. There was a tsunami after the Tohoku earthquake. A tsunami, which translates to "harbor wave" in Japanese, is a sequence of strong waves brought on by the uplift of a substantial body of water. Three nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant melted down as a result of the tsunami, in addition to the thousands of houses, businesses, roads, and railroads that were all completely devastated.
  • Sulawesi Earthquake (Indonesia)

    Sulawesi Earthquake (Indonesia)
    This earthquake had a magnitude of 7.5 and killed 4,340 people. The earthquake's focal mechanism revealed that strike-slip faulting on roughly north-south or west-east trending faults was the source of the quake. A catastrophic tsunami that had waves as high as around 20 feet was caused by the earthquake.