April 1754 Tsunami: E. China Sea, Taiwan

Name: April 1754 Tsunami: E. China Sea, Taiwan
Location: E. China Sea, Taiwan

April 1754 · Erroneous entry

A tsunami caused by a magnitude 6 earthquake began at E. China Sea, Taiwan in April 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

The tsunami

Date: April 1754
Source: E. China Sea, Taiwan
Cause: Earthquake
Earthquake: Magnitude 6
Runups recorded: 1
Tsunami intensity (Soloviev-Imamura): 0.5
Waters: Ocean
How certain: Erroneous entry
Source location: 25.300° N, 121.400° E

The toll

Damage: Limited (under about $1 million)
Houses damaged: Few (about 1 to 50)

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.

Reference #11505:

In northern Taiwan, a tsunami in AD 1754 has been reported and appears to be coeval with the lower quartzose sandy layer at the boundary between the 17th and 18th centuries (Hsu, 1971; Iida, 1984; Lau et al., 2010; Soloviev and Go, 1974; Yang, 1987). We note that the historical record misplaced a disastrous earthquake event (not tsunami) in AD 1694 by 60 years, due to the sexagenary cycle that was adopted in Taiwan's early history (Fang, 1969; Hsu, 1983; Yu, 1698). Similar to the AD 1867 earthquake, the AD 1694 earthquake was also related to the Shanchiao Fault, and resulted in metres of hanging wall subsidence in Taipei, southwest of Jinshan (Hsu, 1983; Lai et al., 2010).

The AD 1694 earthquake could be correlated to the lower event layer between the 14th-17th century deposits and the 18th century deposits. This implies that the earthquake could have contributed to an unreported tsunami that was first identified in this study based on the presence of a marine quartzose sandy layer. [see April 1694 earthquake and tsunami event]

Reference #414:

1754, April. Validity 2. There was a tsunami at Tansui.

Reference #150:

1754, April. April earthquake [25.3 N, 121.4 E, magnitude 6] and some houses damaged by tsunami, validity 3.

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
Tanshui	Taiwan	15			Eyewitness observation of water height

Every tsunami in 1754 The 1700s Tsunamis of Taiwan 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 447.