March 11, 1584 Tsunami: Switzerland

Name: March 11, 1584 Tsunami: Switzerland
Start: 1584-03-11
Location: Switzerland

March 11, 1584 · 18 m · 100 deaths · Questionable tsunami

A tsunami caused by a magnitude 5.9 earthquake and a landslide began at Switzerland on March 11, 1584 at 10:30 UTC. The water rose as high as 18 meters. Its effects were recorded at 1 place. It killed 100 people, counting the earthquake or eruption that caused it.

Where the waves reached

The source (white) and every runup with a place, colored by the water height recorded there. A ring is a runup NCEI marks doubtful.

Under 1 m
1 to 3 m
3 to 10 m
10 to 30 m
30 m and more
Height not recorded

Tsunami warnings in force

The tsunami

Date: March 11, 1584, 10:30 UTC
Source: Switzerland
Cause: Earthquake and landslide
Earthquake: Magnitude 5.9
Maximum water height: 18 m (59.1 ft)
Runups recorded: 1
Waters: A lake or river, not the ocean
How certain: Questionable tsunami
Source location: 46.330° N, 6.970° E

The toll

Deaths: 100 with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
Damage: Severe (about $5 to $25 million)
Houses destroyed: Few (about 1 to 50); Some (about 51 to 100) with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
Houses damaged: Some (about 51 to 100) with the earthquake or eruption that caused it

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.

Damage occurred also in the vineyards on the lakefront caused by waves.

The chronicle of Jehan Dumur (Reymond 1917, p. 279-280) in Grandvaux on the waterside of Lake Geneva, 12 km east of Lausanne, speaks about old buildings collapsing and a wave in the lake.

After the first shock, a flood wave was observed in Lake Geneva around half past 11 local time. Several historical sources mention these "unnatural" movements in the water of the lake and the destruction of its shore, similar to the observations for Lake Lucerne during the 1601 earthquake (Schwarz-Zanetti 2003). The damage reports clearly indicate the effects of sub-aquatic slides triggered by the earthquake ground motion and the formation of a tsunami. The reported subsequent changes of flow direction indicate a standing wave of the lake known as "seiche."

The winegrower Jehan Dumur in Grandvaux, 12 km east of Lausanne, heard a rush, and after it, he saw a swelling and flooding of the water of 12-18 m (Reymond 1917, 279).

The Aigle event caused wide-spread damage, triggered a landslide that came at rest on a plateau, and caused a tsunami and seiche in Lake Geneva.

(all above from reference #12139)

Every runup

Nearest the source first. Heights are above sea level at the time; a tide gauge reads half the wave’s full height.

Where	Country	Km from source	Water height, m	Inland, m	Measured by	First wave, UTC	Deaths
Lake Geneva	Switzerland	37	18		Eyewitness observation of water height

Every tsunami in 1584 The 1500s Tsunamis of Switzerland The earthquake This day in weather history Alerts in force

Sources

Tsunami events and runups from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, Global Historical Hazard Database, cited as NCEI/WDS, doi:10.7289/V5PN93H7. Public domain. Read 2026-09-24. NCEI tsunami event 5680.