1770 Tsunami: SW. Sumatra, Indonesia
A tsunami caused by a magnitude 7 earthquake began at SW. Sumatra, Indonesia in 1770. 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
The tsunami
- Date
- 1770
- Source
- SW. Sumatra, Indonesia
- Cause
- Earthquake
- Earthquake
- Magnitude 7
- Volcano
- The eruption that caused it
- Runups recorded
- 1
- Tsunami intensity (Soloviev-Imamura)
- 0.5
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Probable tsunami
- Source location
- 5.000° S, 102.000° E
The toll
- 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.
Reference #414:
1770, no date, 5 S, 102 E, magnitude 7. In the Bengkulu district (Sumatra Island), there was a very strong earthquake. A settlement was destroyed. The ground cracked. One of the cracks had a length of 500 m, a width of 3 1/2 m and a depth of 8 m, and from it oozed a bituminous substance. At the same time, a section of coast near the mouth of the Padang Gutongi River, which flows in the Mana district, dried up. Finally, a tidal wave occurred simultaneously with the earthquake.
As Wichmann notes, the year given is tentative. The event could have coincided with the earthquake experienced at Bengkulu by Ch. Miller, who says: "One earthquake, in particular, after my arrival here was very strong and did much damage in the country. The Dempo Volcano, visible from Fort Malboro at Bengkulu and smoking almost constantly, ejected flames during the earthquake" (Wichmann, 1918).
Reference #8795:
No date, 1770. The 1770 shock caused severe damage in the same general area as the 1756 event, but a tsunami was associated with it. An eruption of the nearest volcano occurred simultaneously with this event
Reference #12917:
The section of coast near the mouth of the Gutongi River, Padang (Mana Region) receded, then a tidal wave occurred at about the same time as the earthquake.
Reference #13384:
1770, Sumatra. No date given (same as previous? [28 Sep Java]). A village was destroyed. Numerous modern studies (e.g., Vissier, 1922) associate this event with a tsunami possibly derived from Wichmann's work (1918). The only primary information for this event comes from Marsden (1784) who describes what can be interpreted as mass wasting, possible lateral spreading and the appearance of "a large plain, seven miles long and half a mile wide; where there had been before only a narrow beach"
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manna District, Bengkulu, Sumatra | Indonesia | 117 | Eyewitness observation of water height |
More
Every tsunami in 1770The 1700sTsunamis of IndonesiaThe earthquakeThe eruptionAlerts 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 500.