February 18, 1723 Tsunami: Ionian Sea, Greece

Name: February 18, 1723 Tsunami: Ionian Sea, Greece
Start: 1723-02-18
Location: Ionian Sea, Greece

February 18, 1723 · Deaths: many · Very doubtful tsunami

A tsunami caused by a magnitude 6 earthquake began at Ionian Sea, Greece on February 18, 1723 at 02:00 UTC. Its effects were recorded at 1 place.

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

Travel times

How long the first wave took to reach each part of the ocean, one line for each hour up to 24, estimated from the source and the depth of the sea.

The travel times are computed in your browser, which needs JavaScript.

1 to 4 hours
5 to 6 hours
7 to 14 hours
15 hours and more

Computed in your browser the way NOAA’s own travel time maps are: the wave travels at the square root of gravity times the depth, over NOAA’s ETOPO1 depths averaged to a 10 arc-minute grid. Checked against NOAA NCEI’s maps for 21 tsunamis over the first 24 hours, these lines fall within 10 minutes of NCEI’s at half the points compared and within 52 minutes at 9 in 10. They give when the first wave could arrive, not how high it is; bays, harbors and island chains finer than the grid can see it later. Not for use in a warning: see tsunami.gov.

The tsunami

Date: February 18, 1723, 02:00 UTC
Source: Ionian Sea, Greece
Cause: Earthquake
Earthquake: Magnitude 6
Runups recorded: 1
Tsunami intensity (Soloviev-Imamura): 3
Waters: Ocean
How certain: Very doubtful tsunami
Source location: 38.500° N, 20.500° E

The toll

Deaths: Many (about 101 to 1,000) with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
Damage: Severe (about $5 to $25 million) with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
Houses destroyed: Many (101 to 1,000) 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.

1723, February 18, 02 UTC. 38o30' N, 20o30' E, earthquake intensity IX, tsunami intensity 3, reliability 1. No coeval sources are available. Most sources describes the shock as occurred on February 21th but there is no evidences on this assertion. Tsitselis (ref #10553) mentions an earthquake on February 18 destroying many houses, lasted the whole night. The sea turned towards land and it went beck in Levkas (St. Maura) (Antonopoulos, ref #27). (reference #4139)

1723, February 18. Kefalonia. Another violent shock occurred in Kefalonia at 2 in the night of 18 February 1723 (O.S.). It caused no damage but, according to a local note, the sea flooded the land. Strong shocks continued to be felt until 15 May (Tsitselis, 1904, 428-429). (reference #9116)

1723, February 21, 14h. Ionian Sea, Ionian Islands, Island of Levkas. 38.5 N, 20.5 E, earthquake intensity IX, tsunami intensity 3. A destructive earthquake occurred. The sea gushed onto the dry land and went back. Lives were lost (reference #2130).

1723, February 21. Ionian Islands. Leukas (iii?). (references #15, #20)

1723 February 21. Ionian Islands. Leukas (St. Maura) (M=iii?). 38.5 N, 20.5 E, earthquake intensity IX.

A. Galanopoulos (1961, p. 15) mentions the event on the autbority of Tsitselis. Tsitselis, in (Chephalinian Melanger) mentions that during the earthquake of February 18, 1723, sea-waves were also created. According to Partsh, earth tremors started on February 8, but the main tremor occur. 1723, February 18. At 2 a.m. an earthquake took place which almost destroyed the houses, and did not stop the whole night. The sea turned towards the land and went back ... Vol. B, 1960, p. 428. Barbiani does not mention a seismic sea-wave. (reference #27)

1723, February 21, 03h. Ionian Sea, Leukada (m=3?). 38.5 N, 20.5 E, intensity IX. (reference #330)

1723, February 23, 20:02 UTC. Ionian Sea. Sea inundation in Lefkada. (reference #2427)

1723, February 22, 02h. 38.6 N, 20.65 E, magnitude 6.7, intensity VIII (Leukada). In a note of the priest Kontarini (from Lixuri) it is written that on 9 February in the evening a very violent earthquake occurred which lasted much time and shook all houses of the island. On 11 February at 2h in the night a very strong earthquake occurred and pulled down many houses in Leukada. The place set apart for women in the church of Evagelistria collapsed. Many parts of Saint Minas, the tower bell of Sotiros and the wall of Saint Paraskeve were fissured. Large damage occurred in the capital Amaxike. As it results from a memorial tablet in the wall of the Latin church Pantokrator, which was located in the fortress of Leukada and was built by Varbarigo Balbo in 1733, this church was pulled down by the earthquake. In the same note of Kontarini, it is written that at 2h in the night an earthquake occurred and it was near to destroy all houses in Lixuri. The sea rushed in the land and then withdrew. It caused damage in the northern and western part of Cephallonia, mainly in Palike, in Erisos, and in Argostoli. In Zante and Arta the earthquake was felt as very violent and as violent in Patra. The aftershocks lasted till May (Stamatelos, 1870; Machaeras, 1951; Triantaphyllou, 1959; Tsitseles, 1960). This is considered by Stamatelos as the seventh destruction of Leukada since 1612. (reference #4408)

1723 February 18, 38.5 N 20.5 E, questionable tsunami (reference #11164, v.2)

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
Levkas Island	Greece	23			Eyewitness observation of water height

Every tsunami in 1723 The 1700s Tsunamis of Greece 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 394.