Surviving a Tsunami: 

Lessons from Chile, Hawaii, and Japan

Eyewitness accounts of the Pacific Ocean tsunami associated with the giant Chilean earthquakes in 1960 and 2010
Information on the original edition

English version: U.S. Geological Survey Circular 1187: (1999; revised 2005): 

http://pubs.usgs.gov/circ/c1187/

Spanish version: U.S. Geological Survey Circular 1218: (2001; revised 2009): 

http://pubs.usgs.gov/circ/c1218/

Cataloging-in-Publication data are on file with the Library of Congress 

(URL http://www.loc.gov/).

Information on the 2010 additions

The Spanish booklet was updated as a rapid response after the 27 February 2010 

Chile earthquake and tsunami. The Explora program, the UNESCO’s DIPECHO 

project and the School of Ocean Sciences of the Pontificia Universidad Católica 

de Valparaíso used this booklet to promote appropriate actions using the lessons 

learned from both the 1960 and 2010 events.

The new and original content was based on the 2010 interviews with survivors 

conducted by the “Geomarinos” group of the School of Ocean Sciences. 

Newly-collected photographs on the front and back covers from the 1960 event were 

added.

Design modifications in 2010 made by Annette De Vásquez.

Information on the 2014 edition

For Bibliographic purposes, this document should be cited as follows: Intergovernmental 

Oceanographic Commission. 2014. Surviving a Tsunami: Lessons From Chile, Hawaii, and 

Japan, 2014 edition, Paris, UNESCO, 24 pp., illus. IOC Brochure 2014-2 Rev. (English)

Published by the United Nations Organization for Education, Science and Culture.

7 Place de Fontenoy, 75352 Paris 07 SP, France

IOC Brochure 2014-2 (IOC/BRO/2014/2 Rev.)

Printed by UNESCO/IOC – NOAA International Tsunami Information Center, 1845 Wasp 

Blvd., Bldg. 176, Honolulu, Hawaii 96818 U.S.A.

After the 2010 Chile Tsunami, the International Tsunami Information Center (ITIC) was 

asked to update the booklet to add information on historical and potential tsunami sources 

off South America, Middle America, and in the Caribbean. In addition, lessons learned 

from the 2010 tsunami were included in this booklet which was published in Spanish by 

UNESCO IOC in 2012. 

Original new content, compiled by the International Tsunami Information Center, (www.

tsunamiwave.info) is summarized on page 2. The new content, not included in USGS 

Chilean place 

names in this 

booklet.

Front cover caption: 

People observing the first waves from the 22 May 1960 

tsunami safely from higher ground, Puerto Saavedra, Chile. 

See p. 7

Seaward edge of subduction zone

Borde

marino

de la zona de subducción

CHILE

CASCADIA

CANADÁ

ESTADOS

UNIDOS

Seattle,

Washington

Willapa Bay

Valparaíso

Maullín,

Quenuir,

La Pasada

Crescent City

Río Salmon

Segmento de la

zona de subducción

rota en 1700

Columbia

británica

Portland, 

Oregon

California

40°S

35°S

30°S

75°W

125°W 120°W

50°N

40°N

45°S

Rupture length 

in 1960

Rupture length

in 2010

Queule

Concepción

Mehuín

Valdivia

Temuco

Talcahuano

Constitución

Pacific

Ocean

Océano

Pacífico

0 100 MILES

0 100 KILOMETERS

Circular 1218, is found on pages 2, 3, 4, 

5, 6, 7, 10, 12, 13 and 19.

The booklet was translated back into 

English in 2014 by the International 

Tsunami Information Center.
1

1

 United States Geological Survey (USGS).

2 School of Marine Sciences, Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso, Casilla 1020, Valparaíso (Chile). 3

 Department of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195-1310 (USA).

4

 Pacific Tsunami Museum, P.O. Box 806, Hilo, HI 96721(USA).

5

 Programa Explora-Valparaíso (Chile).

6 UNESCO DIPECHO Project “Strengthening of the Regional Tsunami Early Warning System: preparations in 

Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru”

7

 UNESCO/IOC-NOAA International Tsunami Information Center.

CONTENTS

Surviving a Tsunami: Lessons From Chile, Hawaii, and Japan

Introduction 2

The Great Chilean Earthquakes and Tsunamis of 1960 and 2010 3

Historical and Potential Tsunami Sources 4

Lessons Learned

Many Will Survive the Earthquake 5

Heed Natural Warnings 6

Take Oral Traditions into Account 7

Beware of an Unusual Withdrawal of the Water 8

Expect Many Waves 9

Head for High Ground and Stay There 10

Heed Official Warnings 12

Abandon Belongings 13

Don’t Count on the Roads 14

Go to an Upper Floor or Roof of a Building 15

Climb a Tree 16

Climb onto Something that Floats 17

Expect the Waves to Leave Debris 18

Expect Quakes to Uplift or Lower Coastal Land 19

Expect Company 19

Credits and Sources 20

This 2012 version was been translated and published in Spanish with financing by the 

European Commission. Project: “Communities resilient to earthquakes and tsunamis in 

Puerto Plata (Dominican Republic)”.

The contents of this publication should not be taken as a reflection of the opinion or 

stance of the European Commission or the United Nations, or its Member States, or the 

International Tsunami Information Center and the United States of America.

In 2014, Spanish portions were translated into English by the International Tsunami 

Information Center, and the booklet printed with financing from the U.S. National 

Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Tsunami Program. This edition will be 

updated in French and Spanish.

Surviving a Tsunami: Lessons From Chile, Hawaii, and Japan

Original edition compiled by Brian F. Atwater1, Marco Cisternas V.2, Joanne Bourgeois3, Walter C. Dudley4, James W. Hendley II1 and Peter H. Stauffer1.

Additions to the original made in 2010 by Marco Cisternas V.2, Mabel Keller5 and Giovana Santillán6. 

Additions to the original made in 2012 by Laura Kong7 and Nicolás Arcos7.

United Nations

Educational, Scientific and

Cultural Organization

Intergovernmental

Oceanographic

Commission

International Tsunami 

Information Center

W W W.T S U N A M I WAV E.IN F O

NI TERNATIONAL TSUNAMI INFORMATION CENTER

National Oceanic

and Atmospheric

Administration
2

Surviving a Tsunami—

Lessons From Chile, Hawaii, and Japan

Introduction

This book contains true stories that illustrate how to survive—and how not to 

survive—a tsunami. It is meant for people who live, work, or play along coasts that 

tsunamis may strike. Such coasts surround most of the Pacific Ocean but also include 

some coastal areas of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans and Mediterranean seas.

Although many people used to call tsunamis “tidal waves,” they are not related to 

tides but are rather a series of waves, or “wave trains,” usually caused by changes in 

the level of the sea floor during earthquakes. Tsunamis have also been caused by the 

eruption of coastal and island volcanoes, submarine landslides, and oceanic impacts 

of large meteorites. During the 26 December 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami that killed 

227,000, tsunamis reached heights 50.6 meters (166 feet) above sea level in Sumatra, 

Indonesia. In the 2011 Japan Tsunami that killed 17,000, waves reached 38.9 meters 

(127.6 feet) above sea level and flooded kilometers inland.

The stories in this book were selected from interviews with people who survived 

a Pacific Ocean tsunami in 1960 as well as the 2010 Chilean earthquake and tsunami. 

Many of these people contended with the waves near their source, along the coast of 

Chile. Others faced the tsunami many hours later in Hawaii and Japan. Most of the 

original interviews in Circular 1218 were done decades later in the 1980s and 1990s. 

The new accounts included in this publication (p. 7 and 8) were compiled between 2009 

and 2010 (p. 3, 5, 6, 7, 12, 13 and 19). Also new to this edition is information regarding 

earthquake sources that can generate tsunamis in Central America and South America, 

including the Caribbean (p. 4).

The stories provide a mixed bag of lessons about tsunami survival. Some illustrate 

actions that reliably saved lives—heeding natural warnings, abandoning belongings, and 

going promptly to high ground and staying there until the tsunami is really over. Others 

describe taking refuge in buildings or trees or floating on debris—tactics that had mixed 

results and can be recommended only as desperate actions for people trapped on low 

ground.

Almost 50 years later, Juan Peña, from Puerto Saavedra (right), provides details about the 

earthquake and tsunami of 1960 to Diego Muñoz. In January 2010, both are seated on the town’s 

pier, which was built to minimize coastal erosion caused by the 0.9 meter (3 foot) drop in 

elevation that occurred during the 1960 earthquake.
3

Most of the stories refer to the tsunami of 22 May 1960 in south-central Chile. This tsunami, which 

travelled across the Pacific Ocean, was generated by the largest earthquake ever measured, the 1960 

Chilean mainshock of magnitude 9.5. In Chile, the earthquake and the tsunami that followed took more 

than 2,000 lives and caused property damage estimated at 550 million USD (1960 dollars). From Chile, 

the tsunami radiated outward, killing 61 people in Hawaii and 139 people in Japan, and at least 23 in the 

Philippines. Damage was estimated at 24 million USD in Hawaii, 50 million USD in Japan and 0.5 million 

USD in the Philippines. 

On 27 February 2010, nearly 50 years after the 1960 event, the region was struck again. A magnitude 

8.8 earthquake and local tsunami caused 30 billion USD in damage and economic loss along a 700 

kilometers (430 miles) length of Chilean coast in the Valparaiso-Concepción/Talcahuano area. 521 people 

lost their lives, and 1.8 million people were affected. More than 370,000 homes, 2013 schools, 79 hospitals 

and 4,200 boats were damaged or destroyed. The earthquake ranked as the 6th largest since 1900. 

The 1960 and 2010 Chilean earthquakes ruptured fault zones along which slabs of sea floor are 

descending, or “subducting,” beneath the adjacent South American continent. Such “subduction zones” 

are formed where two tectonic plates of the Earth’s outer shell meet. Earthquakes occur when the fault 

ruptures, suddenly releasing built-up energy. During the 22 May 1960 giant earthquake, the South 

American Plate’s western margin lurched as much as 20 meters (60 feet) relative to the subducting Nazca 

Plate, over an area 1000 kilometers (600 miles) long and more than 160 kilometers (100 miles) wide. 

Like Chile, many other areas are located near subduction zones capable of producing earthquakes 

which generate tsunamis. Central America and Mexico (see map p.4) and Cascadia (see map to right) are 

among the areas vulnerable to tsunamis. The Cascadia Subduction Zone produced an earthquake setting 

off a tsunami in 1700 that crossed the Pacific hitting Japan 10 hours later, resulting in two deaths in 

Nakaminato, Japan. Since 1700, the Pacific Northwest of North America has been quiet so people must 

look elsewhere for guidance about tsunami survival.

The Great Chilean Earthquakes and Tsunamis of 1960 and 2010

The 1960 Chilean tsunami radiated outward from a subduction zone along the 

coast of Chile. Its waves reached Hawaii in 15 hours and Japan in 22 hours.

TSUNAMI—A SERIES OF WAVES, OR “WAVE TRAINS,” USUALLY CAUSED BY A SEISMIC SHIFT OF THE SEA FLOOR

One of the many tectonic plates that make up 

Earth’s outer shell descends, or “subducts,” under 

an adjacent plate. This kind of boundary between 

plates is called a “subduction zone.” When the 

plates move suddenly in an area where they are 

usually stuck, an earthquake happens.

Stuck to the subducting plate, the overriding 

plate gets squeezed. Its leading edge is dragged 

downward, while an area behind bulges upward. 

This movement goes on for decades or centuries, 

slowly building up stress.

An earthquake along a subduction zone happens 

when the leading edge of the overriding plate 

breaks free and springs seaward, raising the sea 

floor and the water above it. This uplift starts a 

tsunami. Meanwhile, the bulge behind the leading 

edge collapses, thinning the plate and lowering 

coastal areas.

Part of the tsunami races toward nearby land, 

growing taller as it comes in to shore. Another 

part heads across the ocean toward distant 

shores.

Vertical Slice Through a Subduction Zone A. Between Earthquakes B. During an Earthquake C. Minutes Later

Stuck area ruptures,

releasing energy

in an earthquake

Stuck

Tsunami starts during earthquake

Subducting plate

Overriding

plate Slow distortion

Tsunami

waves spread

 JUAN DE 

FUCA 

PLATE 

SOUTH

AMERICAN PLATE 

CARIBBEAN

 PLATE 

AFRICAN 

PLATE 

NAZCA

PLATE

ANTARCTIC PLATE 

SCOTIA PLATE 

PACIFIC PLATE 

 AUSTRALIAN PLATE 

PHILIPPINE

 SEA

PLATE 

EURASIAN

 PLATE NORTH AMERICAN PLATE 

 COCOS PLATE 

Alaska

Sumatra

Japan

Cascadia

Chile

(detail on

inside cover)

Hawaii

Aleutian

Islands

Subduction zone;

barbs on overiding plate 

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

20

18

16

22

Advancing front

of tsunami 

Hours after

start of tsunami 
4

Many of the world’s shorelines are in 

the proximity of subduction zones that 

produce tsunamis. In the Americas, much 

of the Pacific coast between Alaska and 

southernmost Chile, and the coasts and 

islands countries in the Caribbean are 

vulnerable to tsunamis. In these regions, 

tsunamis are typically generated by 

earthquake faulting and, to a lesser extent, 

by landslides and volcanic eruptions. 

Destructive tsunamis produced by 

subduction zones occur so infrequently 

that the few centuries we have of written 

history do not tell us the full story about 

the tsunami hazards that these zones pose. 

This is why the extent of the losses from 

the tsunamis in Sumatra, Indonesia, in 

2004 and in Tohoku, Japan, in 2011 was 

so unexpected. The maps on this page are 

thus providing an incomplete picture of 

tsunami hazards since they summarize 

occurrences only from the past several 

hundred years. A more complete picture 

of the expected hazard requires tsunami 

histories that extend thousands of years 

into the past.

Historical and Potential Tsunami Sources

F ) 1992

1902

1995

1932

1842

1918

1946

1916

1867

1856 2010

1907

1852

1887

1770 1751

1943 1787

1690

1974

1843 1969

1530

1900

1812

1882 1991

1985

1948

1754

1820

1845

1909

1787

1915

1950

1934

1941

Mexico

Nicaragua

Haiti

1692

1888

1976

United

States

of America

1979

1906

2001

1751 

2010

1960

1942 1996

2007

1940

1966

1970

1996

1835 

1906

1943 

1922 

1995 

1877

1868 Chile

1837 

1746

1974

1730

Right: Historical 

earthquakes magnitude 7.0+. 

Because recurrence 

intervals of giant 

earthquakes can be very 

long (100s to perhaps 1,000 

or more years), use of only 

written records may result 

in the underestimation of a 

region’s tsunami potential.

Historical earthquake rupture zones

Faults (potential tsunami sources)

Historical earthquake rupture zones
5

Many Will Survive the Earthquake

In coastal areas, the largest subduction zone earthquake may kill fewer people than the tsunami that follows.

José Argomedo survived the 1960 

Chile earthquake, which he initially 

mistook for nuclear war. 

Mr. Argomedo was 22 years old and 

living on a farm outside Maullín, Chile, 

where he got news of the world from his 

radio. Early in May 1960, the big news 

was the tension between the United States 

and the Soviet Union—a Soviet missile 

had downed an American spy plane. 

On 18 May, the Soviet leader, Nikita 

Khruschev, suggested treating the United 

States like a cat that had stolen cream. 

“Wouldn’t it be better,” he said, “to take 

the American aggressors by the scruff 

of the neck also and give them a little 

shaking?”

A few days later, on the afternoon of 

22 May, while out riding his horse, Mr. 

Argomedo felt more than a little shaking. 

As the ground beneath him shook hard 

for several minutes, he got down from 

his horse. Mr. Argomedo thought the 

Cold War had turned hot. However, like 

everyone else in the area of Maullín, 

Quenuir, and La Pasada (see photo, 

p. 17), he was actually living through a 

magnitude 9.5 earthquake, the largest ever 

measured.

Mr. Argomedo was on high ground 

Many houses in Maullín, Chile, 

withstood the magnitude 9.5 Chile 

earthquake of 22 May 1960. The 

ensuing tsunami caused most of 

the damage shown in this photo, 

taken between 23 May and 3 June 

1960.

during the hours that followed the 

earthquake. However, many other 

residents of the area were not, and 122 

were killed by the ensuing tsunami. 

Past earthquakes provide lessons for 

future generations. In the decades that 

followed, new building codes were passed 

so that stronger earthquake-resistant 

structures were built. In coastal Chile, 

lessons from the 1960 earthquake included 

going to high ground upon feeling a 

strong earthquake. This lesson also saved 

lives in 2010, when the tsunami associated 

with a Chilean earthquake of magnitude 

8.8 took only 156 lives in Chile.
6

Heed Natural Warnings

An earthquake may serve as a warning that a tsunami is coming, and so may a rapid fall or rise in coastal waters.

On Sunday, 22 May 1960, Jovita 

Riquelme took her 5-year-old daughter 

to Mass in Queule, Chile (see map on 

the inside front cover). During Mass, the 

priest talked about earthquakes. A swarm 

of quakes as large as magnitude 8 had 

occurred 160 kilometers (100 miles) to the 

north the previous day.

Later that Sunday, the magnitude 9.5 

mainshock of the 1960 Chile earthquake 

rocked the region. After the shaking 

ended, many people from Queule decided 

to head to nearby hills. From their stories 

it is not known why they chose to do this, 

but their only known warning was the 

minutes of shaking or, perhaps, changes in 

the level of the Río Queule or the nearby 

Pacific Ocean (see also stories on p. 10, 

13, 14). 

Heeding natural warnings by going 

to high ground probably saved hundreds 

of lives in Queule. However, Mrs. 

Riquelme’s family remained at their house 

on low ground near the Río Queule. The 

tsunami that followed the earthquake 

caught the Riquelme family there. During 

the confusion caused by the waves, Mrs. 

Riquelme lost her daughter, and her 

husband was badly injured. Her husband 

died of his injuries, and the body of her 

daughter was found 3 days after the 

tsunami.

Not far to the north of Queule, Vitalia 

Llanquimán lived outside the village 

of Mehuín. Soon after the earthquake 

shaking stopped, a man on horseback told 

her that the sea had receded from shore. 

At first, Mrs. Llanquimán was not alarmed 

by this news, but her husband took it as a 

warning that the sea, when it came back, 

might surge inland. Carrying their two 

youngest children, the couple hurried up 

a nearby hill, where they safely remained 

during the tsunami. The majority of 

people that survived the 2010 tsunami did 

so because they recognized the tsunami’s 

natural warnings signs, such as sudden sea 

level changes and shaking of the earth.

Though 0.62 kilometers (1 mile) from the sea, most of Queule, Chile, was overrun and washed 

away by the tsunami that followed the 1960 Chile earthquake. Many residents of Queule fled to 

the safety of high ground soon after the earthquake, but Jovita Riquelme lost her daughter and 

husband to the tsunami because the family remained at their house on low ground near the Río 

Queule. From the height of debris tangled in the branches of trees that remained standing after 

the 1960 tsunami, Wolfgang Weischet, then a geographer at the Universidad Austral de Chile in 

nearby Valdivia, estimated that water from the tsunami was as much as 3.96 meters (13 feet) deep 

in Queule. Mr. Weischet took these before and after photos.

Río Queule Río Queule

BEFORE

Trees

Río Queule

Trees

AFTER
7

Take Oral Traditions into Account

In regions with a long oral history, such as Chile’s Araucanía region, the experiences of elders can help save lives.

Although Puerto Saavedra was 

devastated by the 1960 tsunami, few 

people died in large part because they 

recognized the natural warning signs and 

remembered their oral traditions. In a 

nearby field, a worker, Martín Huaracán, 

remembers receiving the first warning 

sign. This first warning sign was shaking 

of the earth and it occurred in the morning 

of the day before the tsunami. 

Mr. Huaracán was referring to the 

magnitude 8 earthquake on Saturday, 21 

May 1960 (see p. 6). The earth shook 

intermittently throughout the day. The 

next afternoon (22 May), the great 

earthquake occurred. As the earth rolled, 

people could not stand and everything 

fell, including the fences and animals. Mr. 

Huaracán tried to stand by placing a foot 

against the fence, but decided it was best 

to lie on the ground.

Mr. Martín Huaracán explains to the interviewer, Carlos Pineda, how he survived the earthquake 

and tsunami in Puerto Saavedra. Natural warning signs and recommendations from elderly 

neighbors saved his life.

The Puerto Saavedra community members, perhaps Mr. Huaracán among them, gather on a 

hill to observe the arrival of one of the first tsunami waves in 1960 (above). In this image, the 

Imperial River’s bank (the black line) was open to the south of the town, allowing the tsunami 

wave (the clear line) to funnel toward the town. The following morning (below), the residents 

are still on high ground while the town remained inundated.

22 May

Tsunami

River Bank

23 May

River Bank

The river provided the second warning 

sign. The river’s waters began to withdraw 

unusually away from the shore. Mr. 

Huaracán received the third and last 

warning sign from elderly neighbors. 

They told him their ancestors said to go 

to high ground following the two prior 

warning signs. Thus, Mr. Huaracán 

decided to immediately head for higher 

ground. At that exact moment, the 

landowner, Mr. Henríquez, passed by with 

a truck filled with people. They picked 

up Mr. Huaracán and headed towards 

the hills. From there, Mr. Huaracán and 

other survivors would safely observe the 

tsunami as it swept away the town.

Today, Mr. Huaracán has no doubts that 

the tsunami was a greater catastrophe than 

the earthquake. He is very grateful for the 

advice from his neighbors.

Similarly, many residents of coastal 

villages survived 

the 2010 

tsunami due to 

experiences of 

past events, or to 

stories of those 

that survived past 

tsunamis.
8

Beware of an Unusual Withdrawal of the Water

After an earthquake, you may see changes in the sea’s behavior. Don’t let curiosity get the best of you, move quickly to high ground as a tsunami may have been generated. 

Curiosity almost cost Denis García 

his life. At the age of 26, Mr. García 

lived with his family in Corral, an active 

port near Valdivia (Chile). Immediately 

following the 1960 earthquake, he 

searched for his family in Corral Bajo, a 

neighborhood located almost at sea level.

He did not find his family, as they 

were safe on high ground. However, he 

observed the sea’s unusual behavior, and 

it piqued his curiosity. Corral Bay was 

completely dry, something he had never 

seen before. Mr. García decisively headed 

toward the coast.

Today, we know the sea’s withdrawal 

following an earthquake signals a 

tsunami’s arrival. He was so focused on 

the exposed sea floor that he did not notice 

the great wave, 12 meters (40 feet) high, 

that was approaching. Although he tried 

to runaway, the wave caught him and 

dragged him toward the bay.

Denis García, 75 years old, lucidly remembers 

how his curiosity almost cost him his life. 

Shocked at finding Corral Bay dry following 

the 1960 earthquake, he did not notice the 

approaching 12 meter (40 foot) wave.

Corral Bajo was completely destroyed by the 

1960 tsunami waves that almost took Denis 

García’s life.

Corral Bay seen from Niebla. Soon after the 1960 earthquake, the bay’s waters began to 

withdraw, leaving the sea floor exposed (above). This phenomenon, a tsunami warning sign, 

captured Denis García’s attention. Below is a view of the same area in May 2009. A fishing 

boat, bottom right, serves as a scale.

Despite Mr. García having spent his 

entire life next to the sea, he did not know 

how to swim. He clung to nearby floating 

debris and managed to stay afloat for 

hours.

Just when he was losing hope, the 

captain of a German boat came across 

him. Later, Mr. García would learn this 

was Walter Nordman, a World War II 

veteran. Mr. Nordman, an experienced 

swimmer, was saving his own life but still 

saved Denis. Both managed to climb onto 

the roof of a house that floated by (see p. 

17).

By nightfall, the currents had taken 

both survivors to the coast, where they 

were finally rescued. Eager to find his 

family, Mr. García left immediately to 

search for them. Even today, he regrets not 

being able to thank the captain for saving 

his life. He never saw him again.
9

Expect Many Waves

The next wave may be bigger, and the tsunami may last for hours.

Just after 10 p.m. on 22 May 1960, 

seismologist Dr. Jerry Eaton and four 

companions assembled at the U.S. 

Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano 

Observatory on the Island of Hawai‘i. 

Gathering cameras, notebooks, flashlights, 

and steel measuring tapes, they piled 

into a Ford station wagon for the 48.28 

kilometer (30 mile) ride down to Hilo. 

There they hoped to measure the 1960 

Chilean tsunami, which was expected to 

arrive at about midnight.

The men had good reason to measure 

this tsunami. Hawai‘i had been struck in 

the past by deadly tsunamis, including 

ones from Chile in 1837 and 1877 and 

one from the Aleutian Islands in 1946 

that in Hilo alone killed 98 people. 

Measurements of past tsunamis are 

commonly used to help identify areas at 

risk from future tsunamis. Measurements 

had been made in Hawaii of Aleutian 

tsunamis, but little was known about the 

heights of tsunamis from Chile.

In Hilo, Dr. Eaton and his companions 

stopped to clear their plans with the police 

and then drove to the Wailuku River 

Bridge, on the shore of Hilo Bay (see 

map on p. 12). They knew that the 1946 

Aleutian tsunami had destroyed the bridge 

there. The men set up an observation post 

on the new bridge and began measuring 

the water level beneath it. Just in case, 

they also planned their own evacuation 

route, a short sprint to high ground.

Just after midnight, the water under the 

bridge rose to 1.2 meters (4 feet) above 

normal—the first wave of the tsunami 

had arrived. At 12:46 a.m., the second 

wave washed under the bridge at a level 

2.7 meters (9 feet) above normal. By 

1:00 a.m., the water beneath the bridge 

had dropped to 2.1 meters (7 feet) below 

normal. Dr. Eaton recalls that they then 

heard an ominous noise, a faint rumble 

like a distant train, that came from the 

darkness far out in Hilo Bay. Two minutes 

later, they began to see the source of the 

noise, a pale wall of tumbling water, 

caught in the dim lights of Hilo. The wave 

grew in height as it moved steadily toward 

the city, and the noise became deafening.

By 1:04 a.m., the men on the bridge 

realized that they should run the tens 

of meters (few hundred feet) to high 

ground. Turning around, they watched 

the 6-meter-high (20-foot-high), nearly 

vertical front of the wave hit the bridge, 

and water splashed high into the air. After 

this wave had passed and they thought it 

was safe, Dr. Eaton and his companions 

returned to the bridge and continued to 

record the water level during several 

more waves of the tsunami (see diagram 

below).

The 1960 Chile earthquake produced a series of tsunami waves that crossed the Pacific Ocean. This 

record shows measurements of water levels beneath the Wailuku River Bridge made by seismologist 

Dr. Jerry Eaton and his companions during the first few hours of the tsunami in Hilo, Hawaii.

The town clock of Waiakea, a Hilo suburb, 

stopped at 1:04 a.m. when the biggest wave 

of the 1960 Chilean tsunami struck Hawai‘i. 

The clock, still showing that time, now 

stands as a monument to the 1960 tsunami 

(see inset).

Midnight

Wave that devastated

part of Hilo

Water-level measurement

First

wave of

tsunami

Approximate

low tide level

12:30 am

14

4

2

3

0

-1

-2

1

12

10

8

6

4

2

0

-2

-4

-6

1 am 1:30 am 2 am

TSUNAMI OF MAY 23, 1960, ON THE ISLAND OF HAWAII

?

WAVE HEIGHT, IN FEET

WAVE HEIGHT, IN METERS
10

Head for High Ground and Stay There

Move uphill or at least inland, away from the coast.

Going to high ground and staying there 

helped save lives during the 1960 Chilean 

tsunami, not only in Chile but also in 

Onagawa, Japan. Damaging waves in 

Onagawa, some of which carried battering 

rams of floating wood, reached heights 

of 4 meters (14 feet). Such waves kept 

arriving for several hours. Elsewhere in 

Japan, the tsunami killed 139 people, 

but in Onagawa no one died, probably 

because many people there went to high 

ground. Some residents arrived there by 

4:45 a.m., as the first large wave entered 

town. They had been alerted by fireman 

Kimura Kunio. Mr. Kimura, on early 

morning watch beside the town’s harbor, 

had noticed unusual motion of the water.

The 1960 tsunami was not the first 

South American tsunami to impact Japan. 

Tsunamis generated in Peru and Chile 

impacted the Japanese in 1586, 1687, 

1730, 1751, 1837, 1868 and 1877.

Endo Fukuei (left, in 1999) recalls the fireman’s 

warning that spurred citizens of Onagawa, 

Japan, toward high ground as the 1960 Chilean 

tsunami reached the town’s harbor. Some 

residents gathered on a hillside as the first 

large wave poured into town (photos A-C at, 

p. 11). Almost 3 hours later, crowds remained 

on this hillside as another wave arrived (photo 

D, p. 11). Waves shown in the photos were 

recorded by a tide gauge in the Onagawa 

harbor (see below).

Tide-Gauge Record for 23 and 24 May 1960, at Onagawa, Japan

In Miyako, Japan, 

north of Onagawa, 

people went to high 

ground to escape the 

1700 Cascadia tsunami 

(see p.3). Their flight is 

reported in this book 

of government records 

from 1700. The same 

records say that in 

Miyako this tsunami 

destroyed 13 houses, 

set off a fire that 

burned 20 more, and 

caused authorities to 

People in Miyako, Japan, also went to high ground to escape the 1960 Chilean tsunami. 

Takanohashi Go (right), outside his family‘s grocery store in 1999, recalls the 1960 tsunami 

with fireman Yamazaki Toshio. As a middle-school student, Mr. Takanohashi ran uphill and 

escaped the tsunami’s waves as they reached the store.

issue rice to 159 people. At right, the character for “high ground” in the 

entry about the 1700 tsunami.

High tide High tide CHILEAN Low tide TSUNAMI

WATER LEVEL, IN FEET

Tide gauge disabled

Photos 

A–C

Waves noticed (page 11)

by fireman

D

6 a.m.

20

WATER LEVEL, IN METERS

0

10

6

0

3

Noon 6 p.m. Midnight
11

Front of first large wave

Front of

train station

4:40 a.m.

A

4:40 a.m.

Front of

train station

Window still intact

4:45 a.m.

Train station

B

Window still intact

4:45 a.m.

Window pushed in

4:50 a.m.

Debris in

swirling water

C

Window pushed in

4:50 a.m.

Debris in

swirling water

Front of new wave

Window gone

7:30 a.m.

Water line from 4:55 a.m.

D

7:30 a.m.

Water line from 4:55 a.m.
To Päpa‘ikou

Wailuku River

Bridge Hilo Electric

Powerplant

(Waiäkea)

N

Area flooded by

1960 Tsunami

0

0

0.5 MILES

0.5 KILOMETERS

H I L O B AY

Path of 

incoming 

tsunami

H I L O

Location of area 

in photo to the left

Waikea

town

0 100 MILES

0 100 KILOMETERS

NI‘IHAU

KAUA‘I

O‘AHU

MOLOKA‘I

MAUI

HAWAI‘I

LÄNA‘I

KAHO‘OLAWE

Hilo

Honolulu PACIFIC OCEAN

12

Heed Official Warnings

Play it safe, even if warnings seem ambiguous or you think the danger has passed.

There was plenty of time for 

evacuation in Hilo, Hawaii, as the Chilean 

tsunami raced across the Pacific Ocean 

on 22 May 1960. At 6:47 p.m. Hawaiian 

time, the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey 

(now the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center) 

issued an official warning that waves 

were expected to reach Hilo at about 

midnight. Around 8:30 p.m., coastal sirens 

in Hilo sounded and continued to sound 

intermittently for 20 minutes.

When the first wave, less than a 

meter (a few feet) high, arrived just after 

midnight, hundreds of people were still 

at home on low ground in Hilo. Others, 

thinking that the danger had passed, 

returned to Hilo before the highest wave 

of the tsunami struck at 1:04 a.m. on 23 

May (see diagram on p. 9). One of those 

who came back too soon was 16-year-old 

Carol Brown.

Carol was at her family’s house on low 

ground in Hilo when the warning sirens 

sounded. Carol’s parents took valuables 

to a relative’s house in Päpa‘ikou, a few 

miles northwest of Hilo, while Carol and 

her brother Ernest checked on a niece who 

was babysitting outside of town.

Later, Carol and Ernest returned 

to Hilo after hearing on the radio that 

tsunami waves had already come into 

town and were only 2.1 meters (7 feet) 

high. On the way back, they met a police 

officer who told them that the danger had 

passed. Carol and Ernest went to a sister’s 

house in a low part of town. Around 1:00 

a.m., they began to hear a low rumbling 

noise that soon became louder and was 

accompanied by sounds of crashing and 

crunching. Moments later, a wall of water 

hit the house, floating it off its foundation. 

When the house came to rest, Hilo was 

dark because the powerplant had been 

knocked out by the same wave.

Carol and her family survived the 1960 

Chilean tsunami without serious injury. 

However, 61 other people in Hilo died 

and another 282 were badly hurt. These 

losses occurred, in part, because the 

warning sirens in Hilo on the evening of 

22 May 1960, were interpreted differently 

by different people. Although nearly 

everyone heard the sirens, only about a 

third of them thought it was a signal to 

evacuate without further notice. Most 

thought it was only a preliminary warning 

to be followed later by an evacuation 

signal. Others in Hilo were unsure of how 

seriously to take the warnings, because 

several previous alerts had been followed 

by tsunamis that did little damage. The 

1960 tsunami killed 61 persons in Hilo 

and caused 191 million USD in damage. 

Deadly Chilean tsunamis also hit Hilo in 

1837 and 1877.

For the 2010 Chile tsunami, the 

Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued 

a Tsunami Warning for the Pacific. 

In Hawaii, citizens heeded the advice 

and evacuated coastal areas. Damage 

exceeded 50 million USD to small harbors 

and beachside hotels, but no one died and 

no one was hurt.

In Hilo, Hawaii, although warning sirens sounded more than 3 hours before the first waves arrived, the meaning of these signals was not clear. Among those who evacuated in response was 16-yearold Carol Brown (wearing white dress in photo at right with her family in Päpa‘ikou). However, after hearing of small first waves and that the danger had passed, many people, including Carol and 

her brother Ernest, returned to homes in Hilo, only to be caught by the largest tsunami wave. The next morning revealed the destruction of Waikea town, where many locals had lived.
13

Abandon Belongings

Save your life, not your possessions.

Like everyone else in Maullín, Chile, 

Ramón Atala survived the 1960 Chile 

earthquake. However, he lost his life while 

trying to save something from the tsunami 

that followed.

Mr. Atala was Maullín’s most 

prosperous merchant. Outside of town, 

he owned a barn and a plantation of 

Monterey pine. In town, he owned a 

pier and at least one large building and 

also had private quarters in a waterfront 

warehouse.

According to Nabih Soza, a fellow 

merchant, Mr. Atala entered this 

warehouse between the first and second 

waves of the tsunami that struck Maullín. 

Mr. Atala was probably trapped in the 

warehouse when the second wave of the 

tsunami washed the building away. His 

son, Eduardo, said that afterward his 

father was among the missing and that his 

body was never found.

Some residents of the town say that Mr. 

Atala was briefly restrained outside the 

warehouse by his wife, who grabbed his 

hair before he finally broke away. Many 

in the town, spinning a cautionary tale 

about a wealthy man, say he entered the 

warehouse to rescue money. 

Even as Mr. Atala was being carried off 

by the second wave, his barn outside of 

Maullín was providing a refuge for some 

20 people, saving their lives from the 

tsunami (see story, p.15).

In 2010, a resident of Constitución (see 

map, inside cover) was in his riverfront 

home. Made of reinforced concrete, 

the house survived the magnitude 8.8 

earthquake. After the earthquake, the man 

wisely evacuated to a safe zone. Upon 

returning, he found his house had been 

destroyed by the tsunami, and fish and 

debris had been left behind by the waves 

on what remained of his third floor.

Nabih Soza, at his store in 1989, remembers 

Ramón Atala, a fellow merchant in Maullín, 

Chile. Mr. Atala entered a warehouse in the 

town between the first and second waves of 

the 1960 Chilean tsunami. 

Photographs taken during the tsunami show 

the warehouse as the first wave withdrew 

(top) and a similar view after the second wave 

washed the warehouse away (bottom).
14

Don’t Count on the Roads

When fleeing a tsunami caused by a nearby earthquake, you may find roads broken or blocked.

Minutes after the 1960 Chile 

earthquake, René Maldonado rode his 

horse on the road from Maullín, Chile (see 

locations on photo, p. 17). During the ride, 

Mr. Maldonado’s horse had to jump newly 

formed cracks in the road. The weakened 

road was soon severed by the waves of 

the tsunami that followed the earthquake, 

leaving channels too wide even for a horse 

to jump.

Not all people in the area fleeing the 

earthquake and the tsunami were as lucky 

as Mr. Maldonado. Some had their routes 

of escape severed by tsunami waves (see 

story, p. 15).

Shaking from the 1960 earthquake 

not only damaged roads but also caused 

landslides. In addition to blocking roads, 

landslides caused by the quake dammed 

the Río San Pedro in the foothills of the 

At right, Mr. Maldonado poses on horseback 

in 1989 beside his 1960 home. Below, a photo 

from 1960 shows a main street in Valdivia, 

Chile, that was damaged when shaking from 

the earthquake caused land to spread toward 

the adjacent river.

The 1960 Chile 

earthquake cracked a 

road near Maullín, Chile, 

used minutes later by 

René Maldonado. This 

road was soon cut by the 

waves of the tsunami that 

followed the quake. 

Andes about 64 kilometers (40 miles) east 

of the city of Valdivia, Chile. Later failure 

of this landslide dam unleashed a flood 

that covered parts of the city (see map on 

inside cover). 

Similarly, the 2010 earthquake 

impacted roads, bridges and railways. 

For instance, in Concepción, the four 

bridges that cross the BioBío River were 

structurally damaged by soil liquefaction 

due to shaking. 

The 2010 Chile earthquake caused bridge 

slab sections in Tubul to collapse leaving the 

roadway unpassable.
15

Go to an Upper Floor or Roof of a Building

Only if trapped and unable to reach high ground, go to an upper story of a sturdy building or get on its roof.

The family of José Navarro, farming 

on a low peninsula near Maullín, Chile, 

had only one quick route to high ground 

after the 1960 Chile earthquake. The 

route was eastward along an unpaved 

road, across a bridge over a tidal stream, 

to uplands called Chuyaquén. Although 

a neighbor quickly took that route, the 

Navarro family stayed in their home, 

beside another tidal stream (see photo at 

lower right).

Some minutes after the earthquake, 

the Navarro family saw the waters of the 

stream recede. Never before had they seen 

so much of the streambed exposed. By 

then, the first wave of the tsunami that 

followed the quake was approaching but 

still out of view to the west (see locations 

on photo, p.17).

Only when they saw a low wall of 

water less than 1.6 kilometers (a mile) 

away did the Navarros head for high 

ground. The family needed to cover 0.8 

kilometers (half a mile) just to reach the 

bridge that their neighbor had used. They 

got far enough to see the first tsunami 

wave destroy it in front of them.

As the first wave receded, they looked 

for something to climb. Nothing near 

them stood more than a meter (few feet) 

high, except for their 9-year-old apple 

trees and several windbreaks of cypress. 

Three quarters of a mile to the south, 

however, was a barn. This was among the 

properties of Ramón Atala, who was about 

to be carried away by the second wave in 

Maullín (see story, p. 13).

Although Mr. Navarro’s wife and 

children headed for the barn, Mr. Navarro 

did not go with them. He thought he’d 

retrieve a few things from the family 

house. However, when he heard shouts 

from the direction of Maullín, he took 

them as a warning of a second wave and 

went directly to the barn.

The second wave reached the barn just 

as Mr. Navarro joined his family there. 

Along with 14 others, the Navarro family 

spent the night in the loft of Ramón 

Atala’s barn, safe above the tsunami 

waters that ran beneath them.

Mrs. and Mr. Navarro, joined by a daughter, stand for a 1989 photo on the porch of their posttsunami home on high ground near Maullín, Chile. The 1960 Chilean tsunami destroyed their 

former home, which was located on low ground by a tidal stream. Photo at right shows reference 

points for their flight to safety during the first two waves of the tsunami.

Path of 

incoming 

tsunami

Navarro home

Bridge taken out by first wave

Ramón Atala’s barn

and pine plantation

to Chuyaquén uplands

Photograph taken December 1961

Navarro home

Bridge taken out by first wave

Ramón Atala’s barn

and pine plantation

to Chuyaquén uplands

Photograph taken December 1961

Río Maullín

0 0.5 MILE

0.5 KILOMETER

0.5 MILE

0 0.5 KILOMETER

N
16

Climb a Tree

As a last resort, climb up a strong tree if trapped on low ground.

At least a dozen people near Maullín, 

Chile, survived the 1960 Chilean tsunami 

by climbing trees (see locations on photo, 

p. 17). However, others perished when the 

trees they climbed were toppled by the 

tsunami (see story, p. 17).

Ramón Ramírez, 15 years old at the 

time of the tsunami, survived by climbing 

into the branches of a cypress tree (photo 

at right) on a plain west of Maullín. While 

Mr. Ramírez stayed safely in the cypress, 

the waters of the tsunami swirled about 

the tree. The water crested at 4.6 meters 

(15 feet) above sea level, reaching about a 

meter (several feet) above the tree’s base. 

In nearby Quenuir, at the mouth of the 

Río Maullín, Estalino Hernández climbed 

an arrayán tree to escape the tsunami’s 

waves. While he clung to the tree, the 

waters of the tsunami rose to his waist. 

Not far away, the onrushing water covered 

land 9.2 meters (30 feet) above sea level. 

Although Mr. Hernández survived the 

tsunami, he lost his 13-year-old son to the 

waves. Quenuir had 104 other victims, 

most of whom took to boats just after the 

earthquake and were caught by the first 

wave of the tsunami.

Inland from Quenuir, a pregnant María 

Vera and eight others climbed a peta tree 

on a low plain north of the Río Maullín 

(photo below). Throughout the night, 

water surged beneath them, scouring sandy 

ground nearby.

María Vera, pregnant and over a half mile from high ground, escaped the 1960 

Chilean tsunami by climbing a peta tree outside of Quenuir, Chile. Ramón Ramírez 

(at right, in 1989) stands beside the cypress tree in which he safely stayed while the 

waters of the tsunami swirled about its base.
17

Climb onto Something that Floats

If swept up by a tsunami, look for something to use as a raft.

Drifting wood saved Nelly Gallardo 

during the 1960 tsunami. The parent 

earthquake struck while she was near the 

shore west of Maullín, Chile.

Soon after the shaking stopped, Ms. 

Gallardo headed inland on low ground, 

where waters of the first wave reached 

her knees. Turning back toward the shore 

to check on her house, she soon met the 

second wave, which swept her off her feet 

and defeated her attempts to swim. The 

next thing she recalls is a floating pole. 

It was a wooden rail, of the kind used 

for tying up horses, and Ms. Gallardo 

struggled to ride it. After a few hours, at 

dusk, currents carried the rail and rider 

into an arrayán tree. The tree’s branches 

held Ms. Gallardo and two others through 

the night.

The roof of her family house served as 

a life raft for Armanda Cubate, her 4-yearold nephew Nelson, and five others. The 

house, on low ground west of Maullín, 

withstood the 1960 earthquake. The house 

As marked on this 1944 photo of the mouth of the Río Maullín, Chile, the 1960 Chilean tsunami flowed 3.2 kilometers (2 miles) inland from the beach at right foreground. In much of this flooded area, 

the tsunami reached a height of 4.6 meters (15 feet) above sea level. After being swept up by the tsunami, Nelly Gallardo floated on a wooden rail and Armanda Cubate took refuge on a roof (see far 

right in above photo). They survived the tsunami, but 15 other people near them died.

also withstood the first two waves of the 

tsunami that followed the quake, but the 

third wave swept it away. This wave also 

toppled a nearby tree that Ms. Cubate’s 

father had climbed to escape the tsunami. 

Both he and Ms. Cubate’s mother drowned 

in the tsunami. Survivors on the roof later 

pulled the mother’s body from the water.

Navarro home (p. 15)

Silva-Vera home (p. 18)

Casa Grande (p. 19)

Nelly

Gallardo

José Argomedo (p. 5)

Armanda

Cubate

QUENUIR

(p. 16,18)

MAULLÍN (p. 5,13)

Tree climbed by Ramón Ramírez (p. 16)

Tree climbed

by María Vera (p. 16)

Broken road (p. 14)

Maldonado home (p. 14)

LA PASADA (p. 18)

30

5

5

15

20

10

15

15

Navarro home (p. 15)

Silva-Vera home (p. 18)

Casa Grande (p. 19)

Nelly

Gallardo

José Argomedo (p. 5)

Armanda

Cubate

QUENUIR

(p. 16,18)

MAULLÍN (p. 5,13)

LA PASADA (p. 18)

Tree climbed by Ramón Ramírez (p. 16)

Tree climbed

by María Vera (p. 16)

Pacific Ocean

Río Maullín

N

105

2

15

Inland limit of tsunami

Photograph taken 1944

Broken road (p. 14)

Maldonado home (p. 14)

Maximum height of tsunami,

 in feet above sea level

Deaths from tsunami

Pacific

Ocean

View in

photo

N

Low

marshy

plain

0 5 MILES

0 5 KILOMETERS

Low

sandy plain

High

ground Río Maullín
18

Expect the Waves to Leave Debris

A tsunami will leave behind sand, the remains of houses, and bodies.

El maremoto fue tan grande que hasta 

los muertos sacó de sus tumbas (“The 

tsunami was so big that it even took the 

dead from their graves”). This saying 

comes from Quenuir, Chile, a village 

at the mouth of the Río Maullín (see 

locations on photo, p. 17). The tsunami 

that followed the 1960 Chile earthquake 

killed 105 people from Quenuir—a 

quarter of the village’s population. 

In addition to this loss of the living, 

Quenuir lost many of its dead. The village 

cemetery was located on sandy ground 

that the tsunami washed away. Debris 

from the cemetery came to rest more than 

4.8 kilometers (3 miles) upriver. There, 

just outside La Pasada, Tulio Ruiz found 

crosses and a full casket.

The 1960 tsunami also deposited 

sand along the Río Maullín, some of it 

on land owned by Juan Vera. He and his 

wife, María Isolina Silva, lived on low 

ground 3.2 kilometers (2 miles) east of 

Maullín. The 1960 earthquake found 

Mrs. Silva at home and her husband on a 

nearby hillside. Their house collapsed, but 

Mrs. Silva escaped and soon joined her 

husband on high ground. Together they 

watched the tsunami overrun their fields 

and carry away the remains of their house. 

The next day, Mr. Vera found a layer of 

sand several inches thick on much of the 

land the tsunami had overrun.

Many houses were carried inland by 

the 1960 tsunami. After fleeing to high 

ground near Queule, more than 160 

kilometers (100 miles) north of Maullín, 

Filberto Henríquez saw houses floating 

away from the town. He recalls that 

some of the houses, with their stoves still 

smoking, looked like ships. Remains of 

houses from Queule ended up as much 

as a mile inland (according to a report 

by Wolfgang Weischet; see p. 6), but 

Margarita Liempí’s house was deposited 

intact; even her drinking glasses were 

unbroken.

At Mehuín, near Queule, Jacinto Reyes 

buried some of the tsunami victims. 

Among them were the parents of two girls 

who were found in blackberry bushes, 

scratched but alive. Not all the tsunami 

victims were found quickly. About 

10 days after the tsunami, Mr. Reyes 

happened upon bodies stuck in sand and 

being eaten by birds.

The 1960 Chilean tsunami deposited a sand 

layer on fields owned by Juan Vera near 

Maullín, Chile. When this picture of Mr. 

Vera was taken in 1989, the sand layer was 

still visible in a streambank (upper right 

photo, see map, inside cover, for location). 

A similar sand layer from the 1700 Cascadia 

tsunami covers the remains of a Native 

American fishing camp exposed in a bank 

of Oregon’s Salmon River (lower right 

photo; see map, page 3, for location).
High ground used by

Ms. Montealegre

Slaughterhouse

Tidal water

Casa Grande

19

Expect Quakes to Uplift or Lower Coastal Land 

A large earthquake can lower nearby coastal areas, allowing tidal water to flood them.

The 1960 Chile earthquake not only 

triggered a tsunami that killed Ramón 

Atala (see story, p. 13), but it also changed 

his Monterey pine plantation outside of 

Maullín, Chile, into a salt marsh. The 

pines, grown for timber, covered low 

ground around Mr. Atala’s barn (see story, 

p. 15). During the earthquake, this land 

was lowered. Because tides were then 

able to inundate the plantation, the ground 

became too wet and salty for the trees to 

survive.

What happened to Mr. Atala’s 

plantation happened at many places 

along Chile’s coast. When a 966-km-long 

(600-mile-long) stretch of the South 

Expect Company

Shelter your neighbors.

In the first weeks after the 1960 

Chile earthquake and tsunami, Yolanda 

Montealegre provided shelter for 40 

families in Casa Grande, her large 

home on the outskirts of Maullín, Chile 

(see locations on photo, p. 17). Ms. 

Montealegre left her house minutes after 

the earthquake and reached high ground 

in time to watch the arrival of the second 

wave of the tsunami that followed the 

quake. The next morning, she found 

Casa Grande in good shape, its ground 

floor dry. The families she soon took 

in were among the estimated 1 million 

Chileans left temporarily homeless by the 

earthquake and tsunami.

The 1960 Chile earthquake lowered the land beneath both this 

slaughterhouse and the large home nearby on the outskirts of Maullín, Chile. 

The slaughterhouse then became flooded by high tides, but Casa Grande, the 

home of Yolanda Montealegre, escaped flooding because it was on slightly 

higher ground. After the earthquake and the tsunami that followed it, Ms. 

Montealegre sheltered 40 families there.

American tectonic plate was 

thinned during the 1960 

earthquake, nearby land was 

lowered as much as 8 feet 

(see diagram B, p. 3). The sea 

was then able to cover coastal 

pastures, farms, and forests.

The 2010 magnitude 8.8 

Chile earthquake resulted in 

0.9-2.1 meters (3-7 feet) uplift 

in the south, and 0.5 meter 

(1.5 feet) of subsidence, or 

lowering, in the northern part of the affected 

coast. On the southern coasts of Arauco 

Peninsula and Isla Santa María, the uplift 

left shells and seaweed permanently dry (see 

photo). 

At Isla Santa María (above), rising of 

the coast during the 2010 earthquake 

stranded coralline algae (white), 

mussels and seaweed.
20

Credits and Sources

People Interviewed

Listed alphabetically by father’s last name. 

Numerals give age in 1960, omitted if age not 

recorded. Bold type denotes people named in this 

booklet or shown in one of its photographs.

Maullín, Quenuir, and La Pasada, Chile

Ricardo Águila (34), Juan Águila (36), Carlos 

Andrade (12), José Argomedo Hernández

(22), José Asencio Cárcamo (45), Elisa Asencio 

Téllez (19), Eduardo Atala B. (42), Reinaldo Cárcamo (52), Hernán Cárcamo Gómez 

(33), Víctor Chávez Villegas (56), Armanda 

Cubate (38), Nelson H. Cubate O. (4), Palmira 

Estrada Estrada (27), Nelly Gallardo (23), 

René García Silva (39), Hermógenes Gómez 

Rival, Adelina Gómez Rival (44), Felisa del 

Rosario Hernández Paredes (39), Estalino 

Hernández (54), Gaspar Hernández, Tulio 

Hernández, René Leichtle Krebs (43), René 

Maldonado (30), Alejandrino Mancilla, Antonio Segundo Mancilla (22), Bernarda Mancilla 

S. (23), Yolanda Montealegre Mücke (40), 

Rodrigo Morales, Fidel Navarro (50), Oscar 

Navarro Navarro (34), José Miguel Navarro 

Silva (44), Enoc Ojeda (20), José B. Ojeda 

Muñoz (40), Julia Paredes Toledo (54), Ramón 

Ramírez Solís (15), Braulio Reyes, Jorge Ruiz 

(34), Tulio C. Ruiz (23), José Rupertino Sánchez Gallardo (15), René Serón (36), María 

Isolina Silva (29), Domitila Solís (50), Pedro 

Soto (62), Nabih Soza (23), Gastón Ezequiel 

Toledo Arria (22), José Elizardo Torralbo (27), 

María Vera (42), Guillermina Vera Mancilla 

(39), Juan Vera Mancilla (34), father of 

Ángela Vera Reyes.

Valdivia, Puerto Saavedra, Mehuín and Queule, 

Chile

Denis García (75), Erna Espinosa, Elsira Flores, 

Filiberto Henríquez Jaramillo (32), Martín 

Huaracán, Hernán Liempí (11), Margarita 

Liempí (18), Vitalia Llanquimán, Mr. & Mrs. 

Moraga, Gilberto Nahuelpán Liempí (25), Daniel 

Nahuelpán Rumillanca (32), Juan Peña, Alberto 

Perón Antilco (23), Jacinto Reyes Reyes (54), 

Jovita Riquelme (45), Alejandro Villagrán Rojas 

(25), Andrea de Mehuín, Erasmo de Mehuín (23), 

Diodema de Mehuín (35).

Onagawa and Miyako, Japan

Endō Fukuei (40), Moriai Miya (40), Moriai 

Mutsuhara (22), Takanohashi Gō (12), 

Yamasaki Nori (26), Yamazaki Toshio, Kimura 

Tsuneo (28).

Hilo (Hawái)

Carol D. Brown (16) and Jerry P. Eaton (33).

Book Preparation

Interviews (C, Chile; J, Japan) 

Brian F. Atwater (C, J), Joanne Bourgeois (C), 

José Ulloa Cortés (C), Marco A. Cisternas Vega 

(C), Héctor Jiménez Núñez (C), Marcelo López 

Bermedo (C), Carlos Pineda (C), Musumi Satoko 

(J), Mary Ann Reinhart (C), Adriana Sandoval 

Lagos (C), Tsuji Yoshinobu (J), Ueda Kazue (J) 

and David K. Yamaguchi (J).

Interviews (Hawaii) 

Adapted from stories of tsunami survivors 

in Tsunami! by Walter C. Dudley and Min 

Lee, 1998 (University of Hawaii Press), and 

supplemented with 1999 interviews done by 

Walter C. Dudley, Peter H. Stauffer, and James 

W. Hendley II.

Photographs, Maps and Figures

Marco A. Cisternas Vega (p. 8, 19), Escuela 

de Arquitectura y Diseño de la Pontificia 

Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Chile 

(p. 7, cover), Fuerza Aérea de Chile, 

Servicio Aerofotogramétrico (p. 15, image 

16019), Honolulu Advertiser (p. 12), Ilustre 

Municipalidad de Maullín (p. 5, 13, 19), Diego 

Muñoz (p. 8), Pacific Tsunami Museum (p. 9, 

12), Saint-Amand (1963; p. 6 y 14), Hellmuth 

Sievers (p. 8), Universidad de Tokio (p. 10, 11) 

y U.S. Defense Mapping Agency (p. 16, image 

503-333; p. 17, image 552.R.13), UNESCO/

Daniel Melnick (p. 14), Constanza Vallejos (p. 2), 

A. Yamauchi (p. 14), María Carolina Zúñiga (p. 

7), ITIC (p. 4), USGS (p. 3, 9, 10). 

Critical Reviews

Sally Atwater, Sergio Barrientos, Susan Beck, 

Eddie Bernard, Jan Bono, Steven R. Brantley, 

Gary Brown, George Crawford, Lori Dengler, 

Paula Dunbar, Rich Eisner, Stephanie Fritts, 

Imamura Fumihiko, Eric Geist, Helen Gibbons, 

Frank González, Dick Hagemeyer, T.J. Harmon, 

Víctor Huérfano, Chris Jonientz-Trisler, Hal 

Mofjeld, Alan Nelson, Dave Oppenheimer, Jim 

Phipps, George Priest, Christa Rabenold, Peter 

Stauffer, Uri ten Brink, Barbara Thurman, Vasily 

Titov, John Vollmer, Christa von HillebrandtAndrade.

Other assistance

Mario Pino (Universidad Austral de Chile); 

Carolina Villagrán and Sergio Barrientos 

(Universidad de Chile); Maullín Gracilaria 

research team (Universidad Austral de Chile). 

Isoda Hisako, Kishimoto Kiyo and Satake 

Kenji (Geological Survey of Japan); Murakami 

Yoshikanei, Satō Hiroshi and Watanabe Tokie 

(University of Tokyo, Earthquake Research 

Institute); Abe Motomu (Town of Onagawa) and 

Ota Yoko.

For Additional Information

1960 Chilean earthquake and tsunami

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recorded at tide stations, U.S. Coast and Geodetic 

Survey, 79 pgs. 

Cisternas, M., Atwater, B.F., Torrejón, F., 

Sawai, Y., Machuca, G., Lagos, M., Eipert, A., 

Youlton, C., Salgado, I., Kamataki, T., Shishikura, M., Rajendran, C.P., Malik, J.K., Rizal, Y. 

and Husni, M.: Predecessors of the giant 1960 

Chile earthquake. Nature, 2005, v. 437, pgs. 

404-407.

Berkman, S.C. and Symons, J.M., no publication date: The tsunami of May 22, 1960, as 

recorded at tide stations, U.S. Coast and Geodetic 

Survey, 79 pgs.

Dudley, W.C. and Lee, M.: Tsunami!, University of Hawaii Press, 1998, 362 pgs.

Eaton, J.P., Richter, D.H. and Ault, W.U.: 

The tsunami of May 23, 1960, on the Island of 

Hawaii, Seismological Society of America Bulletin, 1961, v. 51, no. 2, pgs. 135-157.

Griffin, Wallace: Crescent City’s dark disaster, 

Crescent City Printing Co., 1984, 188 pgs.

Japan Meteorological Agency: The report 

on the tsunami of the Chilean earthquake, 1960, 

Technical Report of the Japan Meteorological 

Agency No. 8, 1961, 389 pgs.

Lachman, R., Tatsuoka, M. and Bonk, W.J.: 

Human behavior during the tsunami of May 

1960, Science, 1961, v. 133, pgs. 1405-1409.

Lander, J.F., Lockridge, P.A. and Koauch, 

M.J.: Tsunamis affecting the west coast of the 

United States 1806-1992, National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration, NGDC Key to 

Geophysical Records Documentation No. 29, 

1993, 242 pgs.

Lockridge, P.A.: Tsunamis in Peru-Chile, 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, World Data Center A for Solid Earth Geophysics, Report SE-39, 1985, 97 pgs.

Lomnitz, C.: Major earthquakes and tsunamis 

in Chile during the period 1535 to 1955, Geologische Rundschau, Bd. 59, 1970, pgs. 938-960.

Plafker, G. and Savage, J.C.: Mechanism of 

the Chilean earthquakes of May 21 and 22, 1960, 

Geological Society of America Bulletin, 1970, v. 

81, pgs. 1001-1030.

Saint-Amand, P., ed.: Special issue - oceanographic, geologic, and engineering studies of the 

Chilean earthquakes of May 1960, Bulletin of the 

Seismological Society of America, 1963, v. 53, 

no. 6, pgs. 1123-1436.

Servicio Hidrográfico y Oceanográfico de la 

Armada de Chile: El maremoto del 22 de Mayo 

de 1960 en las costas de Chile (2d ed.), Valparaíso, SHOA, 2000, 72 pgs.

Shepard, F.P., MacDonald, G.A. and Cox, 

D.C.: The tsunami of April 1, 1946, Scripps Institution of Oceanography Bulletin, 1950, v. 5. pgs. 

391-528. 

The Committee for Field Investigation of the 

Chilean Tsunami of 1960: Report on the Chilean 

tsunami of May 24, 1960, as observed along the 

coast of Japan, Tokyo, Maruzen Co., Ltd., 1961, 

397 pgs.
21

2010 Chilean earthquake and tsunami

Bray, J. and Frost, D.: Geo-engineering 

Reconnaissance of the 2010 Maule, Chile Earthquake, Report No. GEER-022 of the NSF 

Sponsored GEER Association Team, 2010, 1 pg.

Earthquake Engineering Research Institute: 

The Mw 8.8 Chile Earthquake of February 27, 

2010, EERI Special Earthquake Report — June 

2010, 2010, 20 pgs.

Farías, M., Vargas, G., Tassara, A., Carretier, S., Baize, S., Melnick, D. and Bataille, K.: 

Land-level changes produced by the Mw 8.8 

2010 Chilean earthquake, Science, 2010, 329 

(5994), 916-916.

Franco, G., Siembieda,W., Tardanico, R.: 

Report from Social Science & Policy Team–

Talca and Constitución., An EERI Report from 

the Field. Report of the NSF Sponsored GEER 

Association Team, 2010.

Fritz, H.M., C.M. Petroff, P.A. Catalan, 

R. Cienfuegos, P. Winckler, N. Kalligeris, R. 

Weiss, S.E. Barrientos, G. Meneses, C. Valderas-Bermejo, C. Ebeling, A. Papadopoulos, M. 

Contreras, R. Almar, J. C. Dominguez and C. E. 

Synolakis: Field survey of the 27 February 2010 

Chile tsunami, In Tsunamis in the World Ocean: 

Past, Present, and Future, Volume II, Kenji 

Satake, Alexander Rabinovich, Utku Kanoglu, 

Stefano Tinti, eds., Pure Appl. Geophys., 2011, 

vol. 168, no. 11, pgs. 1989-2010. DOI:10.1007/

s00024-011-0283-5

Marín A et al.: The 2010 tsunami in Chile: 

Devastation and survival of coastal small-scale 

fishing communities, Marine Policy, 2010, 

doi:10.1016/j.marpol.2010.06.010

Melnick, D., Cisternas, M., Moreno, M. and 

Norambuena, R.: Estimating coseismic coastal 

uplift with an intertidal mussel: calibration 

for the 2010 Maule Chile earthquake (Mw 

8.8), Quaternary Science Reviews, 2012, 42, 

pgs. 29-42.

Morton, R.A., Buckley, M.L., Gelfenbaum, 

G., Richmond, B.M., Cecioni, A., Artal, O., 

Hoffman, C. and Perez, F.: Geological impacts 

and sedimentary record of the February 27, 

2010, Chile tsunami—La Trinchera to Concepcion, U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report, 

2010, 2010-1116, 28 pgs.

UNESCO Rapid Response Survey, 2010.

Winckler, P., Reyes, M. and Sepúlveda, I.: 

Evaluación del Tsunami del 27-02-2010 en 

Poblado de San Juan Bautista, Isla Robinson 

Crusoe, Archipiélago Juan Fernández. Universidad de Valparaiso, 2010 UV.

Historical and Potential Tsunami Sources (p. 4)

Barkan, R. and ten Brink, U.: Tsunami 

Simulations of the 1867 Virgin Island Earthquake: Constraints on Epicenter Location and 

Fault Parameters, Bulletin of the Seismological 

Society of America, 2010, 100(3), pgs. 995-

1009. 

Barrientos, S.E.: Earthquakes in Chile, 2007, 

Earthquakes in Chile, Moreno, T.: The geology 

of Chile, Geological Society Publishing House, 

2007, pgs. 263-287.

Carena, S.: Subducting-plate Topography 

and Nucleation of Great and Giant Earthquakes 

along the South American Trench, Seismological 

Research Letters, 2011, 82(5), pgs. 629-637.

Devora, S., Antonio, J. and Sanz, S. F. F.: 

Catalog of Tsunamis on the Western Coast of 

Mexico, World Data Center A for Solid Earth 

Geophysics, Report SE-50, Boulder, CO, 1993.

Farreras, Salvador: Tsunamis en México. 

Oceanografía Física en México (editor: MF 

Lavín), Monografía, 1997, (5), pgs. 1-25.

Fritz, H. M., Hillaire, J. V., Molière, E., Wei, 

Y. and Mohammed, F.: Twin Tsunamis Triggered by the 12 January 2010 Haiti Earthquake, 

Pure and Applied Geophysics, 2012, pgs. 1-12.

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American earthquakes and some predictions, 

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pgs. 2087-2103.

Mercado-Irizarry, A. and Liu, P. L. (Eds.): 

Caribbean tsunami hazard. World Scientific 

Publishing Company Inc, 2006.

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J. P., Konca, A. O., Perfettini, H. and Cavagnoud, R.: Source model of the 2007 Mw 8.0 

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115(B2), B02405.

ten Brink, U., Bakun, W. H. and Flores, C. 

H.: Historical perspective on seismic hazard 

to Hispaniola and the northeast Caribbean 

region, Journal of Geophysical Research, 2011, 

116(B12), B12318.

1700 Cascadia earthquake and tsunami

Atwater, B.F., Musumi-Rokkaku, S., Satake, 

K., Tsuji, Y., Ueda, K. and Yamaguchi, D.K.: 

The orphan tsunami of 1700—Japanese clues 

to a parent earthquake in North America, U.S. 

Geological Survey Professional Paper 1707, 

2005, published jointly with University of 

Washington Press, Seattle, 133 pgs. [http://pubs.

usgs.gov/pp/pp1707/].

Satake, K., Wang, K. and Atwater, 

B.F.: Fault slip and seismic moment of the 

1700 Cascadia earthquake inferred from 

Japanese tsunami descriptions, Journal of 

Geophysical Research, 2003, v. 108, 2325, 

doi:10.1019/2003JB002521.

Tsuji, Y., Ueda, K. and Satake, K.: Japanese 

tsunami records from the January 1700 earthquake in the Cascadia subduction zone, Zisin, 

1998, v. 51, p. 1-17 (in Japanese with English 

abstract, figures, and figure captions).

2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami

NOAA/WDC historical tsunami database. 

http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/hazard/tsu.shtml

Synolakis, C. E., and Kong, L.. Runup measurements of the December 2004 Indian Ocean 

tsunami. Earthquake Spectra 22.S3, 2006, 

67-91.

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Japan Meteorological Agency, 2012: “Report 

on the 2011 off the Pacific Coast of Tohoku Earthquake, Volumes I and II,” Technical Report of 

the Japan Meteorological Agency, Vol. 133.

Tsuji, Y., Satake, K., Ishibe, T., Kusumoto, 

S., Harada, T., Nishiyama, A., Kim, H.Y., Ueno, 

T., Murotani, S., Oki, S., Sugimoto, M., Tomari, 

J., Heidarzadeh, M., Watada, S., Imai, K., Choi, 

B.H., Yoon, S.B., Bae, J.S., Kim, K.O., and 

Kim, H.W., 2011. Field surveys of tsunami 

heights from the 2011 off the Pacific Coast of 

Tohoku, Japan Earthquake, Bulletin of Earthquake Research Institute, University of Tokyo, 

86, 29–279 (in Japanese with English abstract) 

UNESCO/IOC Summary statement from the 

Japan – UNESCO – UNU Symposium. In: The 

great east Japan tsunami on 11 March 2011 and 

tsunami warning systems: policy perspectives, 

Tokyo, 16–17 Feb 2012. UNESCO, Paris.

Other Sources

Heights for the 1960 tsunami are known 

to the nearest foot or better. They come from 

reports by the Japan Meteorological Agency 

(1961), and they were compiled by Satake and 

others (2003) and Atwater and others (2005). 

Nikita Khrushchev (p. 5) was referring to 

the U-2 mission of Francis Gary Powers. His 

remarks come from a news conference after 

cancellation of a summit meeting with Dwight 

Eisenhower in Paris. A partial transcript was 

printed in the New York Times of 19 May 1960. 

East-West tension was still the lead story on 23 

May, but on that day the front page of the Times 

also carried an initial wire-service account of 

the 22 May 1960, Chile earthquake and tsunami. 

The tsunami remained front-page news on 24 

May and 25 May—second only to stories about 

U.S. and Soviet spying and a U.S. missile-detection satellite—as tsunami losses were reported 

from Hawaii and Japan. Tsunami heights and 

deaths on page 17 come from interviews and 

surveys done in 1988 and 1989. The heights are 

rounded to the nearest 5 feet (1.5 meters), but 

some points precisely identified by survivors 

were surveyed to the nearest foot. The figure of 

105 fatalities from Quenuir comes from René 

Serón. As a civil servant in 1960, Mr. Serón 

kept records of births, deaths, and other official 

matters in Quenuir. In 1989, he recalled that the 

pretsunami town had about 50 houses, a church, 

a cemetery, and 400 to 450 inhabitants.

Tsunami-hazard information on the World 

Wide Web

http://www.ioc-tsunami.org

http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/hazard/tsu.shtml

http://www.tsunamiwave.info

http://www.tsunami.gov
In interviews several decades later, people in Chile, Hawaii, and Japan recall the tsunami caused by a magnitude 9.5 earthquake 

that struck Chile in 1960. Their accounts contain lessons on surviving a tsunami:

• Many will survive the earthquake

• Heed natural warnings

• Take oral traditions into account 

• Beware of an unusual withdrawal of the water

• Expect many waves

• Head for high ground and stay there

• Heed official warnings

• Abandon belongings

The majority of this booklet is from United States Geological Survey (USGS) Circular 1218 and material that is free for public use. 

Circular 1218 can be found at the following webpage: http://pubs.usgs.gov/circ/c1218/

The booklet was updated to include the survivor experiences from the magnitude 8.8 earthquake and tsunami that struck Chile in 2010.

Prepared in cooperation with the United States Geological Survey, Austral University of Chile, Univeristy of Tokyo, University of Washington, Japan Geological Survey, Pacific 

Tsunami Museum, United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso, Explora Program, UNESCO’s DIPECHO Project, 

and the UNESCO/IOC-NOAA International Tsunami Information Center. 

W W W.TS U N A M IWAVE.IN F O

NI TERNATIONAL TSUNAMI INFORMATION CENTER

• Don’t count on the roads

• Go to an upper floor or roof of a building 

• Climb a tree

• Climb onto something that floats

• Expect the waves to leave debris

• Expect quakes to uplift or lower coastal land

• Expect company

United Nations

Educational, Scientific and

Cultural Organization

Intergovernmental

Oceanographic

Commission