July 12, 1687 Tsunami: Central Chile
A tsunami caused by a magnitude 7.5 earthquake began at Central Chile on July 12, 1687.
Where the waves reached
The source of the tsunami. No runup with a place is recorded for it.
- Under 1 m
- 1 to 3 m
- 3 to 10 m
- 10 to 30 m
- 30 m and more
- Height not recorded
The tsunami
- Date
- July 12, 1687
- Source
- Central Chile
- Cause
- Earthquake
- Earthquake
- Magnitude 7.5
- Runups recorded
- 0
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Very doubtful tsunami
- Source location
- 32.800° S, 70.700° W
The toll
- Deaths
- Few (about 1 to 50) with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
- Damage
- Limited (under about $1 million) with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
- Houses destroyed
- Few (about 1 to 50) 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.
July 12, 1687. (reference #164)
July 12, 1687, 07:00 UTC, 32.8 S, 70.7 W, magnitude 7.3, validity 4. (reference #552)
More
Every tsunami in 1687The 1600sTsunamis of ChileThe earthquakeThis day in weather historyAlerts 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 335.