April 27, 1894 Tsunami: North Evoikos Gulf, Greece
A tsunami caused by a magnitude 7 earthquake and a landslide began at North Evoikos Gulf, Greece on April 27, 1894 at 19:42 UTC. The water rose as high as 3 meters. Its effects were recorded at 2 places. It killed 30 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
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
- April 27, 1894, 19:42 UTC
- Source
- North Evoikos Gulf, Greece
- Cause
- Earthquake and landslide
- Earthquake
- Magnitude 7
- Maximum water height
- 3 m (9.8 ft)
- Runups recorded
- 2
- Tsunami intensity (Soloviev-Imamura)
- 4
- Tsunami magnitude (Iida)
- 1.6
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Definite tsunami
- Source location
- 38.700° N, 23.100° E
The toll
- Deaths
- 30 with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
- Injuries
- 90 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
- 3,800 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.
The generated tsunami waves were 3 m high at Atalanti and farther to the north along the shore up to Ay. Konstantinos (St. Constantinos - ref). The sea receded 50 m from the usual waterline in Ay. Kotistantinos before the wave returned. The tsunami intensity was i = 4 on the Island of Atalanti, i = 3 on the western and north - western coasts of the Gulf of Euboea (reference #2130)
A seismic sea wave flooded the coast of the Gulf of Atalanti, and its effects were reported from many places along the coast, from Stavro in the southeast to Longos in the northwest. The sea wave caused no damage, and, because it occurred at night, details about its height are not accurately known. The earthquake was felt on board ships in the Gulf of Evia and at lighthouses in the region south of Longos, to which it caused no damage. (reference #9116)
1894 Apr 27, 19:42. Listed as probably tsunami. (reference #11164, v2)
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atalanta Bay (Phthiotida), Euboean | Greece | 10 | 3 | Eyewitness observation of water height | |||
| Agios Konstantinos, Euboean Gulf | Greece | 22 | Eyewitness observation of water height |
More
Every tsunami in 1894The 1800sTsunamis of GreeceThe 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 1212.