January 15, 1899 Earthquake: East Coast, New Ireland, Papua New Guinea

Name: January 15, 1899 Earthquake: East Coast, New Ireland, Papua New Guinea
Start: 1899-01-15
Location: East Coast, New Ireland, Papua New Guinea

January 15, 1899

An earthquake struck East Coast, New Ireland, Papua New Guinea on January 15, 1899. It caused a tsunami.

Map

Where it struck, with the other significant earthquakes within 200 km. Circles are sized and colored by magnitude; select one for its page.

The earthquake

Date: January 15, 1899
Place: East Coast, New Ireland, Papua New Guinea
Tsunami: Yes: the tsunami it caused
Epicenter: 3.000° S, 152.000° E
Country: Papua New Guinea
Region: Central and South Pacific

The toll

Damage: Moderate (about $1 to $5 million) with its tsunami and other effects
Houses destroyed: Many (101 to 1,000) with its tsunami and other effects

Where the literature gives no number, NCEI records a description on a scale of 1 to 4, printed here in its words. Damage is in millions of US dollars of the year of the event, not adjusted for inflation.

What the record says

NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.

In 1899 on the eastern coast of New Ireland, there was an earthquake and a destructive tsunami which destroyed many huts on the coast. Waves were also observed in Albatros Strait between New Ireland and Bandissin Island. It is possible that these data relate to the earthquake of Oct. 19, 1899 at 0916 UTC, which was registered by seismic stations in the region of New Britain. (reference #414)

In 1899 an earthquake on the East Coast of New Ireland generated a tsunami that was observed on the East coast of New Ireland, Bismarck Archipelago, several houses were wrecked. (reference #79)

The steamer Archer, from the Islands, flying the flag of the Circular Saw Line, yesterday came alongside the wharf at Barbary's... Her cruise extended to New Britain, New Ireland, and many islands to the east of New Ireland... The Archer reports that a tidal wave visited the Marshall Islands on January 15 last, doing a great deal of damage to several islands. In the Caroline one small island was completely washed away. The same wave reached as far as New Ireland, but did not do much damage. (reference #5865)

Sources NCEI cites

The publications NCEI lists for this record. The numbers match the “reference #” notes in its account above.

#5865 The Sydney Morning Herald (1899). News from the Islands - A Tidal Wave, The Sydney Morning Herald, New South Wales, Australia, 6 May 1899. Retrieved December 18, 2009 from http://newspapers.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/14213099
#414 Soloviev, S.L., and Ch.N. Go (1974). A catalogue of tsunamis on the western shore of the Pacific Ocean [dates include 173-1968. Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Nauka Publishing House, Moscow, 439 p. [Canadian Translation of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences no. 5077, 1984, translation available from Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information, National Research Council, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1A OS2, 447 p.]
#79 Iida, Kumizi, Doak C. Cox, and George Pararas-Carayannis (1967). Preliminary Catalog of Tsunamis Occurring in the Pacific Ocean, HIG-67-10, Hawaii Institute of Geophysics, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii, 275 p. Bibliography to the Preliminary Catalog of Tsunamis Occurring in the Pacific Ocean, December 1967, 27 p.

Other significant earthquakes nearby

Within 200 km, the deadliest first.

Significant earthquakes of 1899 The 1800s Recent earthquakes near here This day in weather history

Sources

Significant earthquakes from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, Global Historical Hazard Database, cited as NCEI/WDS, doi:10.7289/V5PN93H7. Public domain. Read 2026-10-01. NCEI earthquake 6230.