Tsunamis in 1889

September 6, 1889 Tsunami: N. Moluccas Islands, Indonesia

September 6, 1889 · 4 m · Definite tsunami

A tsunami caused by a magnitude 8 earthquake began at N. Moluccas Islands, Indonesia on September 6, 1889 at 12:00 UTC. The water rose as high as 4 meters. Its effects were recorded at 7 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

Tsunami warnings in force

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
September 6, 1889, 12:00 UTC
Source
N. Moluccas Islands, Indonesia
Cause
Earthquake
Maximum water height
4 m (13.1 ft)
Runups recorded
7
Tsunami intensity (Soloviev-Imamura)
2.5
Tsunami magnitude (Iida)
1
Waters
Ocean
How certain
Definite tsunami
Source location
1.000° N, 126.250° E

The toll

Damage
Moderate (about $1 to $5 million)
Houses destroyed
Some (about 51 to 100)
Houses damaged
Few (about 1 to 50) 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.

Ref #414:

1889, September 6, after 20:00 [local time]. There was a strong earthquake (1 deg N, 126.25 deg E) and tsunami on the northeast of Indonesia.

A tsunami appeared soon after the earthquake. The sea suddenly rose 2 m (1 fathom) at Manado, 3.5-4 m (2 fathoms) at Kema; the same occurred at Amurang. Thirty residential blocks (districts) were destroyed at Kema.

At Bentenan, one residential district was flooded 15 times in 2 hours. The water rose 0.5 m (2 feet) in the yard of a home on the coast during the first three waves. The Palemba River was dammed and swelled heavily on a 700 m stretch, though adjacent areas were not inundated. The tsunami began during an ebb when the sea level fell 2 m below the mean mark, and the shore was inundated to a height of 2.5 m above this mark. Thus, the amplitude of oscillations can be estimated at 9 m [2 1/4 m?].

The sea was very restless at Ternate Island, now falling, then slowly rising.

On Sangihe Island at Peta, there was a very great flooding. At Tahuna, there was a rise in water level by about 1.5 m. The water rose in about 2 minutes and fell in 3 minutes. The movement of the water, according to an eyewitness, began a minute after the earthquake and was accompanied by a noise like a strong surf. The bridge across the river at Tahuna was lifted by the flood and partially knocked off its piers. The waves recurred throughout the night until morning, at gradually increasing intervals: from 5 minutes to 30 minutes. Most of the residents of Tahuna rushed to the adjacent hills after the earthquake and spent the night there. On the 9th, many dead fish were found on Cape Tahuna. Six proas were loaded full with the fish. It was on this account that the residents thought that the cause of the earthquake was the eruption of an underwater volcano (Banda Wuhu?) in the vicinity of Sangihe Island.

Ref #79:

1889, Sept. 9, 1899. 2.2 N, 125.4 E. Eruption of Ruang volcano in progress when tsunami occurred. This is the tsunami for which date in Heck is misprinted 1899 Sept 8.

Ref #40:

1889, Sept. 6. Indonesia. Waves 1.5 meters (5 feet) high accompanied an eruption of Banua Wuhu (03o08'N., 125o29'E.) were reported from Taroena on Palau Sangihe. The wave washed up many dead fish, (Neeb 1943, Neumann van Padang 1951).

1899, Sept. 8. Indonesia, Ruang Island. A wave was generated by a volcanic eruption, (Heck 1947). (Probably the same as 1889 Sept. 6.)

Ref #132:

1899, Sept. 8 Ruang Island. Eruption going on when tsunami occurred. [Probably the same as 1889 Sept 6]

Note: ref #10848 and others indicate uncertainty if Eruption of Ruang or Banua Wuhu. Ref #414 states the Ruang event on 8.IX.1889 was a distorted account of the events of 6.IX.1889.

Note: ref #2339 attributes tsunami to volcanic eruption

Every runup

Nearest the source first. Heights are above sea level at the time; a tide gauge reads half the wave’s full height.

WhereCountryKm from sourceWater height, mInland, mMeasured byFirst wave, UTCDeaths
Ternate IslandIndonesia128Eyewitness observation of water height
Kema, Sulawesi IslandIndonesia1374Eyewitness observation of water height
Bentenan, SulawesiIndonesia1512.5Eyewitness observation of water height
Manado, Sulawesi IslandIndonesia1662Eyewitness observation of water height
Amurang, SulawesiIndonesia1882Eyewitness observation of water height
TahunaIndonesia3031.5Eyewitness observation of water height
Peta, Sangihe Island, SulawesiIndonesia303Eyewitness observation of water height

More

Every tsunami in 1889The 1800sTsunamis of IndonesiaThe earthquakeThe eruptionThis 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 1181.