List of historical tsunamis

Table columns:
Date
Location
Main Article
Primary Cause
Description

Table rows:
cells: 1952
Severo-Kurilsk, Kuril Islands, USSR
1952 Severo-Kurilsk earthquake
Earthquake
The November 5, 1952 tsunami, triggered by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake, killed 2,336 on the Kuril Islands, USSR.
cells: 1956
Amorgos, Greece
Earthquake
Fifty-three deaths occurred during the largest 20th-century earthquake in Greece. The island of Santorini was damaged by the shock, and a localised tsunami affected the Cyclades and Dodecanese island groups. A maximum runup of 30 m (98 ft)) was observed on the southern coast of Amorgos.[55]
cells: 1958
Lituya Bay, Alaska, U.S.
1958 Lituya Bay megatsunami
Earthquake-triggered landslide
On the night of July 9, 1958 an earthquake along the Fairweather Fault in Alaska loosened ~40 million cubic yards (30.6 million cubic meters) of rock 3000 feet (914 meters) above the northeastern shore of Lituya Bay. The impact in the waters of Gilbert Inlet generated a local tsunami that crashed against the southwest shoreline and swept completely over the spur of land separating Gilbert Inlet from the main Lituya Bay. The wave continued down the length of Lituya Bay, over La Chaussee Spit and into the Gulf of Alaska. The force of the wave removed all trees and vegetation from elevations as high as 1720 feet (524 meters) above sea level. This is the highest wave that has ever been recorded, and the first time such a wave had ever been observed. The scale of this wave was so much greater than ordinary tsunamis, it eventually led to the new category of megatsunamis.
cells: 1960
Valdivia, Chile, and Pacific Ocean
1960 Valdivia earthquake or Great Chilean earthquake
Earthquake
The magnitude-9.5 earthquake of 22 May 1960, the largest earthquake ever recorded, generated one of the most destructive tsunamis of the 20th century. The tsunami spread across the Pacific Ocean, with waves measuring up to 25 meters high in places. The first tsunami wave struck at Hilo approximately 14.8 hrs after it originated off the coast of South Central Chile. The highest wave at Hilo Bay was measured at ~10.7 m (35 ft). 61 lives were lost, allegedly due to people's failure to heed warning sirens. Almost 22 hours after the quake, the waves hit the Sanriku coast of Japan, reaching up to 3 m above high tide, and killing 142 people. Up to 6,000 people died in total worldwide due to the earthquake and tsunami.[56]
cells: 1963
Vajont Dam, Monte Toc, Italy
Vajont Dam
Landslide
The Vajont Dam as seen from Longarone on 25 September 2012, showing the top 60–70 metres. The 200–250-metre (656–820-foot) megatsunami would have obscured virtually all of the sky in this picture. The Vajont Dam was completed in 1961 under Monte Toc, 100 km north of Venice, Italy. At 262 metres (860 feet), it was one of the highest dams in the world. On October 9, 1963 an enormous landslide of about 260 million cubic meters of forest, earth, and rock, fell into the reservoir at up to 110 km per hour (68 mph). The resulting displacement of water caused 50 million cubic metres of water to overtop the dam in a 250-metre (820-foot) high megatsunami wave. The flooding destroyed the villages of Longarone, Pirago, Rivalta, Villanova and Faè, killing 1,450 people. Almost 2,000 people (some sources report 1,909) perished in total.
cells: 1964
Niigata, Japan
1964 Niigata earthquake
Earthquake
28 people died, and entire apartment buildings were destroyed by liquefaction of the ground. The subsequent tsunami destroyed the port of Niigata.
cells: 1964
Alaska, U.S. and Pacific Ocean
1964 Alaska earthquake
Earthquake
After the magnitude 9.2 Good Friday earthquake of March 27, 1964, tsunamis struck Alaska, British Columbia, California, and coastal Pacific Northwest towns, killing 121 people. The waves were up to 100 feet (30 m) tall, and killed 11 people as far away as Crescent City, California.
cells: 1965
Shemya Island, Alaska
1965 Rat Islands earthquake
Earthquake
The February 4, 1965, Rat Islands earthquake generated a 10.7-metre (35 ft) tsunami on Shemya Island.[57]
cells: 1969
Portugal, Morocco
1969 Portugal earthquake
Earthquake
A large undersea earthquake off the coast of Portugal generated a tsunami that affected both Portugal and Morocco.[58]
cells: 1976
Moro Gulf, Mindanao, Philippines
1976 Moro Gulf earthquake
Earthquake
On August 16, 1976 at 12:11 A.M., magnitude 7.9 earthquake hit the island of Mindanao, Philippines. The resultant tsunami devastated more than 700 km of coastline bordering Moro Gulf in the North Celebes Sea. An estimated casualties included 5,000 dead, 2,200 missing or presumed dead, more than 9,500 injured and a total of 93,500 people left homeless. It devastated the cities of Cotabato, Pagadian, and Zamboanga, and the provinces of Basilan, Lanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Sultan Kudarat, Sulu, and Zamboanga del Sur.
cells: 1979
Tumaco, Colombia
1979 Tumaco earthquake
Earthquake
A magnitude 8.1 earthquake occurred on 12 December 1979 at 7:59:4.3 UTC along the Pacific coast of Colombia and Ecuador. The earthquake and resulting tsunami destroyed at least six fishing villages and killed hundreds of people in the Colombian Department of Nariño. The earthquake was felt in Bogotá, Cali, Popayán, Buenaventura, Guayaquil, Esmeraldas, and Quito. The tsunami caused huge destruction in the city of Tumaco, as well as in the towns of El Charco, San Juan, Mosquera, and Salahonda on the Pacific coast of Colombia. Casualties included 259 dead, 798 wounded and 95 missing or presumed dead.
cells: 1980
Spirit Lake, Washington, U.S.
Spirit Lake (Washington), 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens, Mount St. Helens
Volcanic eruption
On May 18, 1980, in the course of a major eruption of Mount St. Helens, the upper 460 m (1400 ft) of the mountain failed, causing a major landslide. One lobe of the landslide surged onto the nearby Spirit Lake, creating a megatsunami 260 meters (853 feet) high.[59]
cells: 1983
Sea of Japan
1983 Sea of Japan earthquake
Earthquake
On May 26, 1983 at 11:59:57 local time, a magnitude-7.7 earthquake occurred in the Sea of Japan, about 100 km west of the coast of Noshiro in Akita Prefecture, Japan. Out of the 107 fatalities, all but four were killed by the resulting tsunami, which struck communities along the coast, especially Aomori and Akita Prefectures and the Noto Peninsula. Footage of the tsunami hitting the fishing harbor of Wajima on Noto Peninsula was broadcast on TV. The waves exceeded 10 meters in some areas. Three of the fatalities were along the east coast of South Korea (whether North Korea was affected is not known). The tsunami also hit Okushiri Island, the site of a more deadly tsunami 10 years later. This tsunami killed 104 people and injured 235.
cells: 1992
Nicaragua
1992 Nicaragua earthquake
Earthquake
A 7.2+ quake hit offshore in Nicaragua, sending a devastating tsunami into the Rivas department coast, killing some 116 people. The wave magnitude, 9.9 meters high, was unusually large given the size of the earthquake.
cells: 1993
Okushiri, Hokkaido, Japan
1993 Hokkaido earthquake
Earthquake
A devastating tsunami wave struck Hokkaido in Japan as a result of a magnitude 7.8 offshore earthquake 80 miles (130 km) on 12 July 1993. Within minutes, the Japan Meteorological Agency issued a tsunami warning that was broadcast on NHK in English and Japanese (archived at NHK library). However, at Okushiri, a small island near the epicenter, some waves reached 30 meters and struck within two to five minutes of the quake. Despite being surrounded by tsunami barriers, Aonae, a village on a low-lying peninsula, was devastated over the following hour by 13 waves over two meters high arriving from multiple directions, including waves that bounced back off Hokkaido. Of 250 people killed as a result of the quake, 197 were victims of the tsunami that hit Okushiri; the waves also caused deaths on the coast of Hokkaido. While many residents, remembering the 1983 tsunami (see above), survived by evacuating on foot to higher ground, many others underestimated how soon the waves would arrive (the 1983 tsunami took 17 minutes to hit Okushiri) and were killed as they attempted to evacuate by car along the village’s narrow lanes. The highest wave of the tsunami was 31 meters (102 ft) high.
cells: 1994
Java earthquake
1994 Java earthquake
Earthquake
Two hundred and fifty killed as a M7.8 earthquake and tsunami affected east Java and Bali on June 3, 1994.
cells: 1998
Papua New Guinea
1998 Papua New Guinea earthquake
Earthquake
On 17 July 1998, a Papua New Guinea tsunami killed approximately 2,200 people.[60] A 7.1-magnitude earthquake 24 km offshore was followed within 11 minutes by a tsunami about 15 metres tall. The tsunami was generated by an undersea landslide, which was triggered by the earthquake. The villages of Arop and Warapu were destroyed.
cells: 1999
Sea of Marmara
1999 İzmit earthquake
Earthquake
The earthquake triggered a tsunami in the Sea of Marmara, with a maximum water height of 2.52 m. 150 people were killed when the town of Degirmendere was flooded and a further five were swept into the sea at Ulaşlı.[61][62]

Questions about this table:
originalText: when was the last tsunami to hit the united states
answer: answerTexts: 1980