October 31, 1847 Tsunami: Little Nicobar Island, India
A tsunami caused by an earthquake began at Little Nicobar Island, India on October 31, 1847. 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
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
- October 31, 1847
- Source
- Little Nicobar Island, India
- Cause
- Earthquake
- Earthquake
- The earthquake
- Runups recorded
- 1
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Probable tsunami
- Source location
- 7.333° N, 93.667° E
The toll
- Damage
- Limited (under about $1 million) with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
- Houses destroyed
- Some (about 51 to 100) 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.
October 31, 1847. Little Nicobar (7 deg 20 min N., 93 deg 40 min E.). The small island of Kondul (7 deg 13 min N., 93 deg 42 min E.) was inundated. (reference #42)
Oct. 31, 1847. Little Nicobar, Bay of Bengal. Small island of Kondul was inundated. (reference #132)
October 31, 1847. Little Nicobar. Kondul Island was inundated. (reference #112)
October 31, 1847, 7.2 N, 93.40 E. Ysunami in Little Nicobar. (reference #96)
October 31, 1847. Little Nicobar, Kandul Island affected. (reference #3927)
A series of earthquakes and tsunami waves are documented for 19 days. On the small islands located in the St George Channel, the shocks were most powerful and caused large boulders to fall, collapse of houses and formation or fissures that spewed cold and salty water, and flooding of coastal areas tsunami waves. (reference #11528)
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kondul Island | India | 13 | Eyewitness observation of water height |
More
Every tsunami in 1847The 1800sTsunamis of IndiaThe 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 2026-10-01. NCEI tsunami event 757.