December 9, 1882 Tsunami: South China Sea, Taiwan
A tsunami caused by a magnitude 6.3 earthquake began at South China Sea, Taiwan on December 9, 1882. It killed 8 people, counting the earthquake or eruption that caused it.
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
- December 9, 1882
- Source
- South China Sea, Taiwan
- Cause
- Earthquake
- Earthquake
- Magnitude 6.3
- Runups recorded
- 0
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Erroneous entry
- Source location
- 23.800° N, 120.500° E
The toll
- Deaths
- 8 with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
- Injuries
- 3 with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
- Damage
- Limited (under about $1 million) with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
- Houses destroyed
- 40 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.
1882, December 9. Validity 0. 24.5 N, 120.5 E, magnitude 6.25, N.W. Taiwan. Earthquake, no damage. Probably no tsunami. (reference #150)
1882 December 09. South China Sea (24.5 N, 120.5 E). Tsunami cause “unknown”. Listed as Erroneous entry. (reference #8575)
Note: location based on reference #3939 which lists earthquake on 1882 December 09
More
Every tsunami in 1882The 1800sTsunamis of TaiwanThe 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 2026-10-01. NCEI tsunami event 1129.