January 19, 1825 Tsunami: Ionian Sea, Greece

Name: January 19, 1825 Tsunami: Ionian Sea, Greece
Start: 1825-01-19
Location: Ionian Sea, Greece

January 19, 1825 · 60 deaths · Very doubtful tsunami

A tsunami caused by a magnitude 6.5 earthquake began at Ionian Sea, Greece on January 19, 1825 at 09:50 UTC. Its effects were recorded at 1 place. It killed 60 people, counting the earthquake or eruption that caused it.

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: January 19, 1825, 09:50 UTC
Source: Ionian Sea, Greece
Cause: Earthquake
Earthquake: Magnitude 6.5
Runups recorded: 1
Tsunami intensity (Soloviev-Imamura): 3
Waters: Ocean
How certain: Very doubtful tsunami
Source location: 38.834° N, 20.708° E

The toll

Deaths: 60 with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
Injuries: 80 with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
Damage: Extreme (about $25 million or more) with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
Houses destroyed: Many (101 to 1,000) with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
Houses damaged: Very many (over 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.

1825, January 19, 11:45 UTC?. Ionian Sea, Ionian Islands, 38.25 N, 20.75 E, magnitude 6.8, intensity XI. A strong earthquake occurred on the Island of Levkas. A strong tsunami was observed near the Island of Levkas between the eastern coast of the island and the Islet of Sesoula. The intensity of the tsunami was III. (reference #2130)

1825, January 19, 11:45 UTC. 38o48' N, 20o42' E, earthquake magnitude 6.8, intensity XI, tsunami reliability 1. A violent earthquake (I=XI MCS at Leukada) caused the total destruction of the town of St. Maura. Most of the inhabitants perished. At Prevesa many houses were thrown down and some fissures were noted in the ground (Mallet, r16). At Leukada tsunami intensity III attributed by Antonopoulos (r417) who quotes Stamatelos (r493). Further references: Papadopoulos (r80), Galanopoulos (r.433) (reference #4139)

1825, January 19, 11-12 local time?. 38.75 N, 20.75 E, intensity X-XI. All houses in the town Levkas collapsed. Strong tsunami. (reference #1099)

1825 January 19, 38.8 N 20.7 E. Improbable tsunami (reference #11164, v.2)

The earthquake was associated with a small seismic sea wave, which affected thee coast of Lefkas. It is said that as a result of the earthquake the western (?) coast of the island of Lefkas was uplifted. It is claimed also that before thee earthquake uninhabited low islet of Sesola, which lies near Kalamitsi off the western coast of the island, was periodically submerged by the sea and at the time of the earthquake black smoke was seen emitted from the islet. (reference #9116)

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
Levkas Island, Ionian Islands	Greece	19			Eyewitness observation of water height

Every tsunami in 1825 The 1800s Tsunamis of Greece 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 653.