August 18, 1853 Tsunami: Central Greece (Evoikos Gulf)
A tsunami caused by an earthquake began at Central Greece (Evoikos Gulf) on August 18, 1853 at 08:30 UTC. Its effects were recorded at 1 place. It killed 17 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
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
- August 18, 1853, 08:30 UTC
- Source
- Central Greece (Evoikos Gulf)
- Cause
- Earthquake
- Earthquake
- The earthquake
- Runups recorded
- 1
- Tsunami intensity (Soloviev-Imamura)
- 3
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Probable tsunami
- Source location
- 38.250° N, 23.500° E
The toll
- Deaths
- 17 with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
- Damage
- Moderate (about $1 to $5 million) 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.
"A destructive earthquake occurred near the eastern shore of Central Greece at the sites of Boeotia, Attica, Euboea. It was felt in Levadeia (Livadia). The area of the strongest shocks was apparently, in between Mt Atalanti (Clonios) to the north, Lake Copais to the west, the Strait of Euboea (Evoicos) to the east, the River Asopos to the south. Especially strong shocks occurred within the region of Mt. Ptoon adjacent to Lake Copais. Boulders ran into valleys...buildings were pulled down. Thiva and Peri suffered most seriously, 30 people were extracted from ruins, 11 of them dead. Rising and lowering of the earth's surface occurred on the plain to the south of Thiva. The earthquake was accompanied by numerous aftershocks.... A French ship in Piraeus suffered from the seaquake. Tsunami was observed in the Strait of Euboea. (reference #2130)
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Evoikos Gulf (Euboea) | Greece | 47 | Eyewitness observation of water height |
More
Every tsunami in 1853The 1800sTsunamis of GreeceThe 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 808.