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Lisbon Earthquake (Portugal)
It had a magnitude of 9. The tsunami killed 20,000 people. Research shows that the main seismic source was faulting of the seafloor along the Mid-Atlantic tectonic plate. It happened on All Saints Day, which is a Christian festival that honors the Saints. Since cameras were not invented in 1755, this is a drawing of the damage the earthquake caused. -
Krakatoa Eruption (Java/ Sumatra)
Krakatoa had four explosions in only 4.5 hours. The tsunami caused from it killed 36,000 people. The last eruption was 10,000 times more powerful than the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima. Shockwaves were registered all over the world, and causing massive tsunamis to form. -
Aleutian Earthquake (Alaska)
The Aleutian Earthquake had a magnitude of 8.1 and the tsunami killed 160 people. Wave heights reached about 115 feet in Alaska. The tsunami then struck Hawaii without warning 5 hours after the earthquake with 30-foot waves. -
Great Chilean Earthquake (Chile)
The Great Chilean Earthquake had a magnitude of 9.5. The tsunami killed 61 people. It is the largest earthquake in the twentieth century. Waves from the tsunami arrived in Hawaii 15 hours later. -
Good Friday Earthquake (Alaska)
The Good Friday Earthquake had a magnitude of 9.2. The series of tsunamis killed 130 people. Most people were killed by the tsunamis triggered by underwater landslides, not by the tsunami caused by the earthquake. The tallest wave height was 219 feet that struck Shoup Bay, in the Valdez Inlet. -
Hokkaido Earthquake (Japan)
The Hokkaido Earthquake had a magnitude of 7.8. The tsunami caused from it killed 120 people. A tsunami warning was given 5 minutes after the earthquake but it was too late for the people of Japan. A tsunami was in the Sea of Japan with a run-up of 3.5 meters. -
Papua New Guinea Quake (Papua New Guinea)
The Papua New Guinea Earthquake was a 7.1 magnitude earthquake and its tsunami killed 2,100 people. Three huge waves arrived with the largest wave being around 10 meters tall. Just about 18 minutes after the earthquake, the sea was calm again. -
Sumatra Earthquake (Indonesia)
The Sumatra Earthquake had a magnitude of 9.1 and the tsunami killed 230,000 people. The tsunami traveled as far as 3,000 miles to Africa. People in Indonesia said that they saw animals fleeing for higher ground minutes before the tsunami arrived and very few animal bodies were found afterward. -
Samoa Earthquake (Samoan Islands)
The Samoa Earthquake had a magnitude of 8.1 and the tsunami killed 200. The water reached elevations greater than 15 meters above sea level. The tsunami was a unique one filled with many surprises. It was so damaging because the tsunami originated in deeper waters, causing it to have more impact. -
Chile Earthquake (Chile)
The Chile Earthquake had a magnitude of 8.8 and the tsunami killed 700. The Chilean town of Constitución was inundated by waves as high as 50 feet. It traveled across the Pacific Ocean at nearly 450 miles per hour. -
Tohoku Earthquake (Japan)
The Tohoku Earthquake in Japan was a 9.1 magnitude earthquake. The tsunami killed 20,000 people. The buildings destroyed due to the tsunami released thousands of tons of ozone-destroying chemicals and greenhouse gases into the air. It also broke icebergs off the Sulzberger Ice Shelf in Antarctica. -
Sulawesi Earthquake (Indonesia)
The Sulawesi Earthquake is the most recent earthquake that had a magnitude of 7.5, killing over 2,000 people and the tsunami killing 850. More than 330,000 people were left homeless or without shelter. The waves reached up to 6 meters (20 feet).
