5 Deadliest Tsunamis in History

Krakatau, 1883

Death toll: 36,000
Cause: Volcanic eruption
The explosion of the Indonesian volcanic island Krakatau (sometimes spelled Krakatoa) in August 1883 was the worst volcanic eruption in human history. The explosion itself was audible as far away as Australia, making it the loudest sound ever heard by human ears.
As pyroclastic flow from the volcano crashed into the sea and the island collapsed in on itself, the eruption generated tsunamis up to 130 feet (40 meters) tall. According to the USGS, the waves washed away 165 villages on Java and Sumatra alone. Tide gauges on the Arabian Peninsula, 4,350 miles (7,000 kilometers) away recorded large tsunamis.

1782 South China Sea Tsunami

Death toll: Over 40,000
Cause: Earthquake
Historical records of this disaster are sketchy, but a Russian catalogue of tsunamis published in 1964 puts the death toll of a 1782 tsunami in Taiwan at 40,000. According to that report, the tsunami flooded over 75 miles (120 kilometers) of land.

The Great Lisbon Earthquake and Tsunami

Death toll: 60,000
Cause: Undersea earthquake
In November 1755, a huge quake in the Atlantic jolted southwest Portugal. The city of Lisbon was hardest hit by the quake and a resulting fire. Meanwhile, the quake triggered a tsunami that destroyed coastal towns in Portugal, Spain and Morocco. Waves estimated to be 18 feet (6 meters) high hit Lisbon.
The tsunami rushed up the Tagus River, where it rose "as it were like a mountain," in the words of Lisbon resident Reverend Charles Davy, who witnessed the event and is quoted in "The World's Story: A History of the World in Story, Song and Art, edited by Eva March Tappan" (Houghton Mifflin, 1914). "It came on foaming and roaring, and rushed towards the shore with such impetuosity, that we all immediately ran for our lives as fast as possible," Davy wrote. "Many were actually swept away, and the rest above their waist in water at a good distance from the banks."

The Minoan eruption, Ancient Greece

Death toll: 100,000 or more
Cause: Volcanic eruption
Around 1500 B.C., an undersea volcano on the Mediterranean island of Thera, also called Santorini, erupted with enormous force. According to the NOAA Center for Tsunami Research, the eruption created the first tsunami in the historical record.
While the exact death toll of this ancient disaster will never be known, some researchers believe that it may have heralded the end of the thriving Minoan civilization on the island of Crete. Geological evidence suggests that a 50-foot (15 meter) tsunami inundated miles of Cretan coastline. The resulting destruction and instability may have led to riots and uprising against the elite of the island. What is known is that within a few generations, Minoan civilization crumbled.

The 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami

Death toll: Approximately 226,000
Cause: Undersea earthquake
On December 26, 2004, a massive earthquake struck off the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. The quake, which was between 9.1 and 9.3 on the Richter Scale, lasted almost 10 minutes. The resulting tsunami would terrorize coastal residents as far away as Somalia.
Almost 166,000 people died in Indonesia alone. Over 35,000 perished in Sri Lanka. Almost 2 million more people were displaced from their homes in India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, the Maldives and East Africa.
The death toll of 226,000 was the fourth-largest caused by an earthquake and the largest ever caused by a tsunami.

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