September 14, 1953 Earthquake: Fiji Islands

Name: September 14, 1953 Earthquake: Fiji Islands
Start: 1953-09-14
Location: Fiji Islands

September 14, 1953 · M6.4 · 8 deaths

A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck Fiji Islands on September 14, 1953 at 00:26:36 UTC, 33 km below the surface. It killed 8 people, counting the tsunami it caused.

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: September 14, 1953
Time: 00:26:36 UTC
Place: Fiji Islands
Magnitude: 6.4 (Mw)
Magnitude scales: Mw 6.4 · Ms 6.8
Focal depth: 33 km (21 mi)
Tsunami: Yes: the tsunami it caused
Epicenter: 18.300° S, 178.200° E
Country: Fiji
Region: Central and South Pacific
USGS record: The USGS’s page for this earthquake

Mw: moment magnitude, based on the slip on the fault and the area that slipped. Ms: surface-wave magnitude. NCEI’s headline magnitude is the best of these for the earthquake.

The toll

Deaths: 3; 8 with its tsunami and other effects
Injuries: 61
Damage: Limited (under about $1 million)
Houses destroyed: Some (about 51 to 100)
Houses damaged: Few (about 1 to 50) 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.

From Wikipedia

The 1953 Suva earthquake occurred on 14 September at 00:26 UTC near Suva, Fiji, just off the southeast shore of Viti Levu. This earthquake had an estimated magnitude of Ms 6.8 and Mw 6.4. The earthquake triggered a coral reef platform collapse and a submarine landslide that caused a tsunami. Eight people were reported killed.

Text from Wikipedia, “1953 Suva earthquake”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted as written; the full article has the rest.

What the record says

NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.

On September 14, 1953 at 12:17 [local time] there was an earthquake and tsunami on the Fiji Islands. The macroseismic epicenter was determined at the southern coast of the island of Viti-Levu. Cave-ins, and landslides occurred on the steep slopes nearshore and bridges were damaged. Considerable material damage was sustained. On loose ground the destruction was noticeably stronger than in bedrock areas. The most frequent cause of the destruction of buildings and bridges was the sinking of filled ground. The dock area of Suva was damaged most of all. The back-filled soil subsided and was displaced one meter towards the water. This resulted in considerable destruction of berthage, supporting walls and access roads. After the earthquake, the caved-in areas had to be filled in. The ground cracked in low places near the shore; numerous small sand and mud volcanoes appeared. Two persons perished, one under a landslide, the other by the collapse of a building.

The earthquake was followed by a large number of weak aftershocks.

According to eyewitnesses, the water level at the entrance to the harbour of Suva began to recede immediately after the seismic shocks. In Suva, three persons were drowned in the tsunami waves and two on the island of Kandavu. Twelve persons received serious injuries.

(above from reference #415)

Eight killed at Suva. 10-foot tsunami. Epicenter 18.5 S, 178.5 E, Depth about 60 km. Magnitude 6.75. (reference #45)

1953, Sept 14, 00:26:36 UTC. 18.3 S, 178.2 E, depth 33 km, magnitude 6.8 Unknown. (reference #9910)

1953, Sept 14, 00:26:34.7 UTC. 18.397 S, 178.354 E, depth 10 km, magnitude 6.37 Mw. (reference #10476)

Economic losses were assessed at (1953) F£ 250,000. A significant toll on the human population was also taken - 8 deaths (three due to the earthquake and five drownings in the tsunami) and 61 reported injuries from the earthquake. (reference #12067)

Sources NCEI cites

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

#415 Soloviev, S.L., and Ch.N. Go (1975). A catalogue of tsunamis on the eastern shore of the Pacific Ocean [dates include 1513-1968]. Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Nauka Publishing House, Moscow, 204 p. [Canadian Translation of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences no. 5078, 1984, translation available from Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information, National Research Council, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1A OS2, 293 p.]
#45 U.S. Department of the Interior, Geological Survey and U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (1928-1986). United States Earthquakes, Annual publication, published 1928-1986. vol.s for 1928-1965 issued by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey; volumes for 1966-1969 issued by the National Earthquake Information Center; volume for 1970 issued by the National Geophysical Data Center; volumes for 1971-1972 issued by the National Geophysical And Solar-Terrestrial Data Center; volumes for 1973-1980 published jointly by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the U.S. Geological Survey; volumes for 1981-1986 published by the U.S. Geological Survey. [on shelf]
#3799 Fiji Times (1953). The Fiji Times and Herald, September 15 through September 22, 1953.
#9910 Engdahl, E.R., R. van der Hilst, R. Buland (2012). Centennial Earthquake Catalog. Retrieved August 11, 2011 from link
#10476 International Seismological Centre (2013). Final Scientific Report of the ISC-GEM Instrumental Earthquake Catalogue, ISC-GEM Global Instrumental earthquake Catalogue (1900-2021). Versions 1-12 downloaded beginning 18 March 2013. DOI: 10.31905/D808B825
#12067 Prasad, Gajendra, Jack Rynn, and Atu Kaloumaira (2000). Tsunami Mitigation for the City of Suva, Fiji. Science of Tsunami Hazards, the International Journal of the Tsunami Society, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA, vol. 18, no. 1, p. 35-54.

Other significant earthquakes nearby

Within 200 km, the deadliest first.

Significant earthquakes of 1953 The 1900s Every quake the USGS located in 1953 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 7443. The written accounts and the magnitude estimates are from the USGS earthquake catalog, event iscgem892001, matched to this record by time, place and magnitude.