April 3, 1872 Tsunami: Samandag (Suaidiya), Turkey

Name: April 3, 1872 Tsunami: Samandag (Suaidiya), Turkey
Start: 1872-04-03
Location: Samandag (Suaidiya), Turkey

April 3, 1872 · 1,800 deaths · Probable tsunami

A tsunami caused by a magnitude 7.3 earthquake began at Samandag (Suaidiya), Turkey on April 3, 1872 at 05:45 UTC. Its effects were recorded at 1 place. It killed 1,800 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

Tsunami warnings in force

The tsunami

Date: April 3, 1872, 05:45 UTC
Source: Samandag (Suaidiya), Turkey
Cause: Earthquake
Earthquake: Magnitude 7.3
Runups recorded: 1
Tsunami intensity (Soloviev-Imamura): 3
Waters: Ocean
How certain: Probable tsunami
Source location: 36.200° N, 36.200° E

The toll

Deaths: 1,800 with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
Damage: Severe (about $5 to $25 million) with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
Houses destroyed: Very many (over 1,000) with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
Houses damaged: Very many (over 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.

1872 April 03, Tsunami intensity 3, Tsunami reliability 3 (probable). ‘‘The sea rose after the earthquake, allegedly to a great height, flooding the coast’’. This very probably happened to the Suaidiya coast, South Turkey (Ambraseys and Barazangi 1989). In a recent (July 2003) paleotsunami field investigation performed jointly by the tsunami teams of Tohoku University (Japan), the Middle East Technical University (Ankara) and the National Observatory of Athens (Greece), tsunami sediment deposits were discovered in Suaidiya, which are attributed to the 1872 event. Final analytical results are expected soon (see also Ambraseys et al. 1994). (reference #2815)

1872 April 03, Tsunami intensity 3, Tsunami reliability 4 (definite). Tsunami waves flooded the Samandag (Suaidiya) coast. (reference #9275)

1872 April 03, Tsunami intensity 3, Tsunami reliability 3 (probable). (reference #11164)

1872 April 03. As a result of the earthquake the sea rose to a great height, flooding the coast in the vicinity of Jedida and Kabusi, with the flood wave reaching as far as Suaidiya, nearly 2 km inland. (reference #9116)

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
Samandag (Suaidiya)	Turkey	22			Eyewitness observation of water height

Every tsunami in 1872 The 1800s Tsunamis of Turkey The earthquake This day in weather history Alerts 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 5821.