# Presentation: 515744

## History of Caribbean Tsunamis

- Christa G. von Hillebrandt-Andrade
- Puerto Rico Seismic Network, UPRM
- with major contributions from
- Paula Dunbar
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
- National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC)
- World Data Center for Solid Earth Geophysics - Tsunamis
- Paula.Dunbar@noaa.gov

- Caribbean Training Course in Seismology and Tsunami Warnings
- St. Augustine, Trinidad & Tobago
- June 25-30, 2007

## Caribbean Tsunami Data Sources

- Gusiakov, V., 2003. Historical Caribbean Tsunamis Database.
- Lander, J.F., L.W. Whiteside, and P.A. Lockridge , 2002, A Brief History of Tsunamis in the Caribbean Sea, *Science of Tsunami Hazards, the International Journal of the Tsunami Society*, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA, Vol. 20, No. 2, p. 57-94.
- National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC)/World Data Center for Sold Earth Geophysics, Boulder, Colorado, Tsunami Database, _http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/seg/hazard_
- O'Loughlin, Karen Fay, and James F. Lander, 2003, *Caribbean Tsunamis: A 500-Year History from 1498-1998.* Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands. In cooperation with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES, University of Colorado).
- Singer, A., C. Rojas, and M. Lugo, 1983, *Inventario Nacional de Riegos Geologicos, Estado Preliminare*, Caracas: Fundacion Venezolana de Investigaciones Sismologicas (FUNVISIS), Serie Tecnica 03-83, Caracas, 128 pp.

- McCann, William R., 2006, Estimating the threat of tsunamigenic earthquakes and earthquake induced-landslide tsunami in the Caribbean, *Carribean Tsunami Hazard, Proceedings of the NSF Caribbean Tsunami Workshop*, March 30-31, 2004, Editors A. Mercado-Irizarry and P. Liu, World Scientific Publishing Co., Singapore, p. 43-65.
- Molina, E., 1997, *Tsunami Catalogue for Central America, 1539-1996, for Reduction of Natural Disasters in Central America, Earthquake Preparedness, and Hazard Mitigation,* Technical Report No. II 1-04, Institute of Solid Earth Physics, University of Bergen, Bergen Norway, 87 p.
- Robson, G.R., 1964, An earthquake catalogue for the Eastern Caribbean, 1530-1960, *Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America,* Vol. 54, No. 2, p. 785-832.

## Evidence for Tsunamis

- Seismic records
- Marigraph/Tide Gauge records
- Listings in catalogues, journals
- Media reports
- Personal/Oral

## Global Distribution

**NGDC/WDC Historical Tsunami Database contains:**
- 1700 Tsunami Source Events
- 77% Pacific Ocean, 7% Mediterranean Sea, 5% Indian Ocean (includes Malaysia and part of Indonesia), 5% Caribbean Sea, 3% Atlantic Ocean, 3% Red Sea and Black Sea
- 9200 Tsunami Runup Locations
- 84% Pacific Ocean, 8% Indian Ocean (includes Malaysia and part of Indonesia), 2% Atlantic Ocean, 3% Caribbean Sea, 2% Mediterranean Sea, Red Sea and Black Sea <1%
- Tsunami Source Distribution
- 81% Earthquakes (includes earthquake-generated landslides), 10% unknown, 5% Volcanoes, 3% Landslides, 1% combination
- Percentages are a result of the hazard and intensive reconnaissance studies

- Events Generating Tsunami

- Tsunami Runup Locations

- Courtesy of Paula Dunbar, 2007

**Notes:**
The distribution of source events is a good representation of the hazard.
The distribution of runup locations represents the hazard, but also represents where intensive field work has been done.

## Tsunami Events Causing Deaths

- 190 source events from 744 - 2007

- Courtesy of Paula Dunbar, 2007

**Notes:**
The symbols represent the total deaths for a source event, not necessarily where the deaths occurred.

## Tsunami Events with >5 meter Runups

- 180 source events from 887 - 2007

- Courtesy of Paula Dunbar, 2007

**Notes:**
The symbols represent the maximum event runup for a source event, not necessarily the location where the runup occurred.

## Caribbean Tsunami Sources

- Local Caribbean Earthquakes = 71%
- Local Caribbean Submarine and Land Volcanoes = 18%
- Tele-tsunamis or distant sources (e.g. 1755 Lisbon, 1883 Krakatau, 2004 Indian Ocean) = 11%
- Submarine Landslides = 0%

## Known Historical RecordNOAA/NGDC Historical Tsunami Database

**Global Historic Tsunami Database -**
**Source event (time, location, magnitude)**
**Runup locations where tsunami waves were observed **
**	****(water heights, arrival times, wave periods)**
**Damage, deaths, injuries from the source and the tsunami**
**Variety of Data Sources**
**Tide Gauge Observations, Reconnaissance Reports**
**Data catalogues: Tsunami, Earthquake, Volcano, Storms**
**Journal articles, Newspaper reports, Ship’s Logs, Diaries, Personal Accounts**

- Courtesy of Paula Dunbar, 2007

## Validities of Tsunami Reports

**Tsunami Event Validities**
**High (validity 3-4)**
- recorded on seismograph and tide gauge
- prior to instrumental recordings – Reported by many reliable and independent sources
- many reports of deaths, damage, and observations of waves in many locations
**Low (validity 0-2)**
- reported to be earthquake-caused, but not listed in local earthquake catalogs
- prior to instrumental recordings, described by only one source
- meteorologically caused

- Courtesy of Paula Dunbar, 2007

## Examining the Historical Tsunami Record

- Tsunami source events affecting the Caribbean were reviewed for accuracy
- Check original sources
- Crosscheck with earthquake catalogs
- Crosscheck with hurricane catalogs
- Events were selected for further examination
- Not meteorologically caused
- Validity 3 or 4
- Runup not flagged as doubtful or meteorologically caused
- All dates were included - 1690 Virgin Islands earliest report

- Courtesy of Paula Dunbar, 2007

## Examining the Historical Tsunami Record--continued

- Count tsunami events affecting each country
- Bin tsunami events based maximum measured runup
**0.01 m ≤ runup ≤ 0.5 m**
**0.5 m < runup ≤ 1.0 m**
**1.0 m < runup ≤ 3.0 m, and **
**3.0 m < runup**
- Tsunami event could be counted in several countries
- 1755, 1867, 1918, 1946, etc.
- Although not a vulnerability or risk assessment
- Examine the severity of tsunamis by counting total number of deaths and dollar damage due to tsunamis in each state

- Courtesy of Paula Dunbar, 2007

## Caribbean Tsunamis Fatalities1692 to the present

**Jamaica, 1692**
**2000 deaths**

**Haiti, 1842**
**300 deaths**

**Martinique, 1902**
**100 deaths**

**Venezuela, 1853**
**113 deaths**

**Panama, 1882**
**100 deaths**

**Costa Rica**
**1991, 2 deaths**

**US Virgin Islands**
**1867, 30 deaths**

**Puerto Rico, 1918**
**142 deaths**

**Dominican Republic**
**1946 (2 events), 1865 deaths**

**Total Deaths: 4652**

- Courtesy of Paula Dunbar, 2007

## Tsunami Event Runups, Total number of Runups, and Deaths

- Courtesy of Paula Dunbar, 2007

## Tsunami Runups from Distant Sources

**Cuba**

**Haiti**

**Dominican **
**Republic**

**Venezuela**

**Puerto**
**Rico**

**Honduras**

**Panama**

**US Virgin**
**Islands**

**Netherlands**
**Antilles**

**Barbados**

**Antigua &**
**Barbuda**

**Martinique**

**Dominica**

**St Vincent &**
**Grenadines**

**Guadeloupe**

- Courtesy of Paula Dunbar, 2007

## 1755 Lisbon Earthquake

- Mw 8.75-9
- Travel Time @ 6-7 hours
- Areas w/ Runup
- Saba 6.4-7.6 m
- Martinique 4.6 m (drop)
- Antigua 3.7 m
- Barbados (Carlisle Bay) 6.1 m
- Samaná Bay, Dom. Rep. 3.7 m
- Santiago, Cuba “completely inundated”
- No reports
- Puerto Rico
- Virgin Islands

## Tsunami Runups in the Caribbean from Local and Regional Sources

**Cuba**

**Jamaica**

**Haiti**

**Dominican **
**Republic**

**Guadeloupe**

**Trinidad &**
**Tobago**

**Puerto**
**Rico**

**Honduras**

**Costa**
**Rica**

**Panama**

**Grenada**

**US Virgin**
**Islands**

**Venezuela**

**Antigua &**
**Barbuda**

**Montserrat**

**Dominica**

**St Kitts**
**& Nevis**

**St Vincent &**
**Grenadines**

**Netherlands**
**Antilles**

**British**
**Virgin I**

**Barbados**

**Martinique**

**St Lucia**

- Courtesy of Paula Dunbar, 2007

## November 18, 1867 USVI Earthquake and Tsunami

## Isoseismal map of the Puerto Rico earthquake of October 11, 1918

**Isoseismal map of the Puerto Rico earthquake of October 11, 1918**

**Modified after Reid and Taber, 1919**

**R-F Intensity Scale**

## 1918 Tsunami

## Tsunami Runups 1918 Tsunami

**Maximum Water Height: **
- Valid values: **.01** to **525** The maximum water height above sea level in meters for this event. It is the height the tsunami reached above a reference level such as mean sea level but it is not always clear which reference level was used. If the type of measurement is a:
- Tide Gauge - half of the maximum height (minus the normal tide)of a tsunami wave recorded at the coast by a tide gauge.
- Deep Ocean Gauge ? half of the maximum height (minus the normal tide) of a tsunami wave recorded in the open ocean by a seafloor bottom pressure recording system.
- Runup Height - the maximum elevation the wave reaches at the maximum inundation.

**Description of Number of Deaths from the Tsunami:**
- Valid values: **0** to** 3 **When a description was found in the historical literature instead of an actual number of deaths, this value was coded and listed in the **Deaths D** column. If the **actual number of deaths was listed**, a descriptor was also added for search purposes.
- 0 = None
- 1 = Few (~1 to 50 deaths)
- 2 = Some (~51 to 100 deaths)
- 3 = Many (~101 or more deaths)

## Paleotsunami Deposits, Aguada (630 ybp)

- Source:  Juan Carlos Moya and Aurelio Mercado

## Pre Historic Tsunamis?

- References
- Hubbard D., Ramírez W., Davis A., Lawson G., Oram J., K Parsons., Cuevas D. and Del Coro M. (2004) A preliminary model of Holocene coral-reef development in the Enriquillo Valley, SW Dominican Republic. Geological Society of America *Abstracts with Programs*, Vol. 36, No. 5, p. 313.
- Cuevas D., Ramírez W., Del Coro M., and Hubbard D. (2004) Assessment of the response of a Holocene fossil coral reef to high sediment input: Implications to modern trends of reef degradation in high sedimentation environments. Geological Society of America *Abstracts with Programs*, Vol. 36, No. 5, p. 291.

- 8,000 ybp disturbance

## Pre historic tsunamis?

## What is today’s risk from tsunamis?