March 20, 1861 Tsunami: Sc. Chile
A tsunami caused by an earthquake began at Sc. Chile on March 20, 1861.
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
- March 20, 1861
- Source
- Sc. Chile
- Cause
- Earthquake
- Earthquake
- The earthquake
- Runups recorded
- 0
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Erroneous entry
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.
March 10 [20], 1861, 20:45 [local time]. Mendosa [Argentina] was destroyed by an earthquake. Fourteen thousand dead were reported. The earthquake affected part of Chile and was felt at Santiago and Valparaiso as strong undulating oscillations lasting 50 seconds. "There was talk of a flood, which supposedly accompanied this earthquake, but I could discover absolutely no details, not even the date." (Perrey, 1864 b, ref #4118) (reference #415)
More
Every tsunami in 1861The 1800sTsunamis of ChileThe 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 908.