August 16, 1869 Tsunami: Sulu Sea, Philippines
A tsunami caused by a magnitude 7 earthquake began at Sulu Sea, Philippines on August 16, 1869 at 07:00 UTC. 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
- August 16, 1869, 07:00 UTC
- Source
- Sulu Sea, Philippines
- Cause
- Earthquake
- Earthquake
- Magnitude 7
- Runups recorded
- 1
- Tsunami intensity (Soloviev-Imamura)
- 0
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Questionable tsunami
- Source location
- 12.500° N, 123.500° E
The toll
- Damage
- Severe (about $5 to $25 million) with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
- Houses destroyed
- Some (about 51 to 100) with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
- Houses damaged
- Many (101 to 1,000) 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.
Reference #414:
1869, August 16, 15:00 [local time], 12.5 N, 123.5 E, magnitude 7. There was a strong earthquake in the southeast of Luzon Island and the east of the Visayan Sea, lasting about 15 minutes [?]. It was the strongest earthquake in living memory on Masbate Island. All the residents ran from their homes in fear. The animals and birds milled about in terror. Various objects shifted. The few brick structures on the island suffered considerable damage or tilted. Large trees fell. Large cracks opened up in the ground on the south of the island. Landslides came down from the hills and the steep bluffs on shore. The arch of a church was damaged at Albay. A more or less strong earthquake was felt on Burias Island, at Naga, Catbalogan, and Tacloban. More than 100 recurrent shocks were felt in two weeks at Masbate. The sea was rough off the coast of Masbate Island. To the north of Ticao Island, one of the little islands supposedly disappeared (Repetti, 1946; Berninghausen, 1969; Cox, 1970). Listed as possible tsunami
Reference #3029:
1869 August 16, 3:00 p.m. Southeastern Luzon and eastern Visayas. "From the oldest people of this island I have heard that they cannot recall any earthquake like the one on August 16th at 3:00 p.m. The strong and violent shocks made me believe that the end of the world had come; animals were terrified, domesticated birds flew around in an unwonted manner, and the sea was disturbed; the motion of the earth was E-W and so strong that all were frightened and threw themselves out of the houses in spite of the fact that they did not offer any danger as they are built of wood, bamboo and nipa..."
Reference #10958 lists probability of tsunami is ranked as “positive”.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masbate Island | Philippines | 3 | Eyewitness observation of water height |
More
Every tsunami in 1869The 1800sTsunamis of PhilippinesThe 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 1006.