February 23, 1887 Tsunami: Ligurian Sea, Italy
A tsunami caused by an earthquake began at Ligurian Sea, Italy on February 23, 1887 at 06:20 UTC. The water rose as high as 2 meters.
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
- February 23, 1887, 06:20 UTC
- Source
- Ligurian Sea, Italy
- Cause
- Earthquake
- Maximum water height
- 2 m (6.6 ft)
- Runups recorded
- 0
- Tsunami intensity (Soloviev-Imamura)
- 3
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Erroneous entry
- Source location
- 43.700° N, 8.100° E
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.
This event is referring to the event on same day listed at 05:21 UTC
1887, February (March) 23, O6h20m. Ligurian Sea, Italy, France. A strong earthquake covered an isometric area of 570,000 km. The boundary of the area where the earthquake was felt passed through Sardinia and near Rome on the south, near Pordenone to the east, near Perpignan to the west, through Dijon to the north. There were three underground shocks: the first, strongest, shock was at about 06h2Om, the second very strong shock occurred 9 min later, the third shock at O8h53m was somewhat stronger, but much shorter than the second one. Ships sailing between the shore of Liguria (western Riviera) and the Island of Corsica were shaken in different directions as if they were being thrown against hard ground.
The sea level in Carines and Antibes dropped by 1 m during the first shock, then rose 2 m. Deep sea fish and fish rare for the winter season were found thrown out on the coast on the beaches of Nice, Sun Remo, Savonu. The earthquake focus was supposedly situated to the south of the shore near Oneglia and San Remo. (reference #2130)
More
Every tsunami in 1887The 1800sTsunamis of ItalyThis 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 3462.