May 1844 Tsunami: Lake Nicaragua
A tsunami caused by a magnitude 7.4 earthquake began at Lake Nicaragua in May 1844.
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
- May 1844
- Source
- Lake Nicaragua
- Cause
- Earthquake
- Earthquake
- Magnitude 7.4
- Runups recorded
- 0
- Waters
- A lake or river, not the ocean
- How certain
- An event that only caused a seiche
- Source location
- 11.200° N, 84.800° W
The toll
- Damage
- Limited (under about $1 million); Moderate (about $1 to $5 million) with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
- Houses destroyed
- Few (about 1 to 50); Some (about 51 to 100) with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
- Houses damaged
- Some (about 51 to 100)
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 #273:
Ms 7.4 (Rojas, et al., 1993); M 7.0-7.9 (Leeds, 1974)
Rojas et al. 1993 (Jorgensen, 19663 Carr and Stoiber, 1977): "Desbordamiento del Lago de Nicaragua, muchas replicas" ("Overflow of Lake Nicaragua, lots of aftershocks")
Carr & Stoiber, 1977 (Montessus de Ballore, 1884): “Rivas destroyed. Seiches (?) in Lake Nicaragua during long swarm.”
Leeds (Montessus de Ballore, 1888; Crawford 1902; Milne 1912; Montando 1962): "In May 1844, widespread damage was reported from San Juan del Norte to Grytown. The town of Rivas was destroyed. Rio Negro, closed to navigation in 1835 by Cosiguina, was reopened. Rio Tipitapa (Lake Managua to Lake Nicaragua) was reopened, although no previous report indicating it was closed has been found. Lake Nicaragua cascaded through the rapids causing damage."
Reference #11948:
The waters of Lake Nicaragua went up and down with the tremors, causing great damage to its shores.
Reference #12345 (accessed July 2024):
listed as validity 2 (questionable tsunami)
Reference #11947:
Seiches were reported in Lake Nicaragua after an earthquake in 1884 (Molina 1997), and several volcanoes on the shores of the lakes have very steep flanks with slide scars evidencing that large slides have hit the lakes: slides that could have caused significant waves even if the water is not very deep.
More
Every tsunami in 1844The 1800sTsunamis of NicaraguaThe 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 5667.