September 7, 1754 Tsunami: Banda Sea, Indonesia

Name: September 7, 1754 Tsunami: Banda Sea, Indonesia
Start: 1754-09-07
Location: Banda Sea, Indonesia

September 7, 1754 · Questionable tsunami

A tsunami caused by an earthquake began at Banda Sea, Indonesia on September 7, 1754. 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: September 7, 1754
Source: Banda Sea, Indonesia
Cause: Earthquake
Earthquake: The earthquake
Runups recorded: 1
Tsunami intensity (Soloviev-Imamura): 0
Tsunami magnitude (Iida): 1
Waters: Ocean
How certain: Questionable tsunami
Source location: 3.500° S, 128.500° E

The toll

The record gives no deaths, injuries or damage for this tsunami.

What the record says

NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.

Reference #414:

1754, September 7, between 12:00 and 12:30 [local time], 3.5 N, 128.5 E. On Haruku Island, there was an earthquake almost as strong as the one on August 18. It was accompanied by a tidal wave.

Reference #40:

1754, September 7. Indonesia. Pulau Haruku (03 deg 34 min S., 128 deg 29 min E.) near Amboina. Moderate sea waves. (Probably the same as 1754 Aug. 18)

Reference #132:

1754, September 7. Dutch East Indies, Haruku, near Amboina. Moderate sea wave.

Reference #12917:

Heck's tsunami note quotes from Belcher (1843): Belcher only received reports from Mexicans. It is likely that this report does not clearly explain the tsunami at Acapulco on 17 August 1754.

Wichman's report: There was a tsunami on 7 September.

A note from Mallet (1853): On 18 August there was a main earthquake followed by aftershocks which ended on 22 September 1754.

Reference #13384:

tsunami observed; unsure if this relates to event felt at Ambon on 6 September 1754

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
Haruku Island	Indonesia	14			Eyewitness observation of water height

Every tsunami in 1754 The 1700s Tsunamis of Indonesia 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 453.