May 23, 1864 Tsunami: NW. Irian Jaya, Indonesia
A tsunami caused by a magnitude 7.8 earthquake began at NW. Irian Jaya, Indonesia on May 23, 1864. The water rose as high as 3 meters. Its effects were recorded at 2 places. It killed 250 people.
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
- May 23, 1864
- Source
- NW. Irian Jaya, Indonesia
- Cause
- Earthquake
- Earthquake
- Magnitude 7.8
- Maximum water height
- 3 m (9.8 ft)
- Runups recorded
- 2
- Tsunami intensity (Soloviev-Imamura)
- 1.5
- Tsunami magnitude (Iida)
- 3.6
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Probable tsunami
- Source location
- 1.000° S, 135.000° E
The toll
- Deaths
- 250
- Damage
- Severe (about $5 to $25 million)
- Houses destroyed
- Many (101 to 1,000)
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 #414:
1864, May (mistakenly June), validity 3, on the night of the 22nd-23rd, 1864 about 00:30 [local time]. There was an earthquake, lasting at least 3 minutes, in the region of Irian Bay. Immediately after the earthquake, the sea at Mausinam [Manokwari] rose three times to a height of 2.5 to 3 m above its usual level and washed away all the local settlements on shore; 250 people died.
Reference #132:
1864, May 23. North New Guinea, Geelvink Bay. Three waves 8 to 10 feet in height.
Reference #99:
1864. NW New Guinea. Remarks: Mansman, Is (0,sup>oS, 134oE) wiped out. Effects reported at Geelvink Bay, Malaysia, New Guinea.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mausinam (Mansinam), Manokwari | Indonesia | 101 | 3 | Eyewitness observation of water height | 250 | ||
| Geelvink Bay | Indonesia | 169 | 3 | Eyewitness observation of water height |
More
Every tsunami in 1864The 1800sTsunamis of IndonesiaThe 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 934.