December 24, 1737 Tsunami: Southern Chile
A tsunami caused by a magnitude 8 earthquake began at Southern Chile on December 24, 1737.
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
- December 24, 1737
- Source
- Southern Chile
- Cause
- Earthquake
- Earthquake
- Magnitude 8
- Runups recorded
- 0
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Very doubtful tsunami
- Source location
- 43.000° S, 74.000° W
The toll
- Deaths
- Some (about 51 to 100) with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
- Damage
- Moderate (about $1 to $5 million) with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
- Houses destroyed
- 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.
December 24, 1737, 43 S, 74 W, validity questionable. An earthquake destroyed Valdivia and a large part of the settlements on the archipelago (the island of Chiloe and others in the southern part of Chile). This earthquake was even more severe than that of 1633. [Included by Goll, with a question mark, in the list of tsunami-generating earthquakes.] (reference #415)
December 24, 1737, 43 S, 74 W. (reference #552)
More
Every tsunami in 1737The 1700sTsunamis 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 415.