1799 Tsunami: N. Peru
A tsunami caused by an earthquake began at N. Peru in 1799.
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
- 1799
- Source
- N. Peru
- Cause
- Earthquake
- Earthquake
- The earthquake
- Runups recorded
- 0
- Tsunami intensity (Soloviev-Imamura)
- 1
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Questionable tsunami
- Source location
- 12.000° S, 77.000° W
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.
On September 6, 1799 (?), the newspaper "Moniteur" reported that South America had recently experienced strong earthquakes. The most severe tremors were recorded in Lima, where, over a period of several days, many buildings were damaged beyond repair. Each tremor was accompanied by a rumbling sound. A man on a vessel near Callao reported
that he had had a distinct impression of the nearby mountains being raised and lowered, moved toward him and pushed farther back, almost as if by some elastic quality.
According to Hoff's catalogue (1840), a destructive earthquake occurred in Trujillo in the second half of the year. It is possible that Hoff's record refers to a town of the same name in Peru (Perrey, 1858).
[This may be difficult to verify. The more reliable sources (for example Silgado, 1968) do not mention destructive earthquakes in Lima between 1746 and 1828. Also, it is difficult to relate the above events to the tsunami of 1746, because in that disaster all vessels in the Callao area were lost.]
(above from reference #415)
More
Every tsunami in 1799The 1700sTsunamis of PeruThe earthquakeAlerts 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 581.