August 20, 1871 Tsunami: Central Chile
A tsunami caused by an earthquake began at Central Chile on August 20, 1871. Its effects were recorded at 2 places.
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
The tsunami
- Date
- August 20, 1871
- Source
- Central Chile
- Cause
- Earthquake
- Earthquake
- The earthquake
- Runups recorded
- 2
- Tsunami intensity (Soloviev-Imamura)
- 0.5
- Tsunami magnitude (Iida)
- -1
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Questionable tsunami
- Source location
- 33.100° S, 71.700° W
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.
August 20 (21), 1871. At Valparaiso (and also at Santiago),
there was an earthquake accompanied by such large sea waves that ships making ready to enter the port were obliged to go back out to sea (Perrey, 1875 b--ref #2202; Goll, 1903--ref #4093). [Perrey thought that these might also be waves from the Peruvian earthquake of August 21, 1871. (reference #415)
August 20, 1871, 33.1 S, 71.7 W, runup height 1 m. (reference #552)
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Valparaiso | Chile | 10 | Eyewitness observation of water height | ||||
| Santiago doubtful | Chile | 104 | Eyewitness observation of water height |
More
Every tsunami in 1871The 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 1024.