February 5, 1783 Tsunami: Tyrrhenian Calabria, Italy
A tsunami caused by an earthquake began at Tyrrhenian Calabria, Italy on February 5, 1783 at 08:00 UTC. Its effects were recorded at 4 places.
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
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 5, 1783, 08:00 UTC
- Source
- Tyrrhenian Calabria, Italy
- Cause
- Earthquake
- Earthquake
- The earthquake
- Runups recorded
- 4
- Tsunami intensity (Soloviev-Imamura)
- 3
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Questionable tsunami
- Source location
- 38.900° N, 17.100° 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.
In 1783 Calabria (southern Italy) was shaken by the most violent and persistent seismic crisis occurred in the last two thousands years. Five very strong earthquakes occurred in a short interval of time (February-March), causing destruction and a lot of victims in a vast region embracing the whole southern Calabria and the Messina area, Sicily.
According to some sources at about [Feb. 5] 8:00 a.m. in the morning a weak shock was felt. At Capo Rizzuto a sudden inundation was observed. At Bivona and Pizzo Calabro in the morning some fishermen that were on the boat noted that sea suddenly agitated. At Cutro, some hours before the big earthquake, the sea withdrew then came back to its usual limit.
Revision: Graziani (ref #3954)
Further references: Baratta (ref #4123)
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Capo Rizzuto | Italy | 0 | Eyewitness observation of water height | ||||
| Cutro | Italy | 18 | Eyewitness observation of water height | ||||
| Pizzo Calabro | Italy | 83 | Eyewitness observation of water height | ||||
| Bivona | Italy | 90 | Eyewitness observation of water height |
More
Every tsunami in 1783The 1700sTsunamis of ItalyThe 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 3208.