January 22, 1899 Tsunami: Ionian Sea, Greece

Name: January 22, 1899 Tsunami: Ionian Sea, Greece
Start: 1899-01-22
Location: Ionian Sea, Greece

January 22, 1899 · 1 m · Deaths: some · 45 houses destroyed · Probable tsunami

A tsunami caused by a magnitude 6.5 earthquake began at Ionian Sea, Greece on January 22, 1899 at 08:30 UTC. The water rose as high as 1 meters. Its effects were recorded at 2 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: January 22, 1899, 08:30 UTC
Source: Ionian Sea, Greece
Cause: Earthquake
Earthquake: Magnitude 6.5
Maximum water height: 1 m (3.3 ft)
Runups recorded: 2
Tsunami intensity (Soloviev-Imamura): 3
Waters: Ocean
How certain: Probable tsunami
Source location: 37.250° N, 21.750° E

The toll

Deaths: Some (about 51 to 100) with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
Damage: Moderate (about $1 to $5 million) with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
Houses destroyed: 45 with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
Houses damaged: 275 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.

1899, January 22, 0756 UTC. 37.2 N, 21.6 E, magnitude 6.6, tsunami reliability 1. Strong shock in Messenia causing severe damage at Kyparissia and surroundings. Casualties. Serious damage in the whole Messenia with a total of 45 houses destroyed, more than 275 uninhabitable. Tsunami at Messinia, Kyparissia and Marathos with intensity III according to Antonopoulos (1980). (reference #4139)

The earthquake was followed by a seismic sea wave, about 1 m high, which flooded the coast at Marathos and at other places, which are not specified, including on the coast of Kyparisia. On the island of Zakynthos the height of the wave was about 40 cm. There is no evidence that the submarine cables between Zakynthos and the mainland at Tripiti and Katakolo were affected. (reference #9116)

1899, January 22. Tsunami at Messini, Kyparrisia, Marathos. (reference #1099)

1899, January 22. 09:56:10, 37.12 N 21.36 E, reliability 4. (reference #2427)

1899, January 22. Possible/likely tsunami (reference #2130)

1899, January 22, 0756 UTC, 27.2 N. 21.6 E, reliability 4,. According to Galanopoulos (1941) the tsunami was possibly triggered by submarine slump. (reference 11164, v 2)

In Marathoupole, a sea wave (tsunami) was observed with a height smaller than 1m, while in Zante its height reached 40 cm. (reference #4408)

According to [NOA’s local observer] Mr. De Viazis [the earthquake occurred at] 10.30 [am]; after the earthquake the sea became cloudy, and the water level rose about 0.2 to 0.4 m. On 11 am it [the sea water] was still cloudy. Very likely, a small local tsunami was triggered. A local tsunami of 1 m in height was also reported in Marathoupoli in the epicentral area (reference #13931)

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
Marathoupolis, Messinia	Greece	7	1		Eyewitness observation of water height
Island of Zakynthos (Zakinthos)	Greece	96	0.4		Eyewitness observation of water height

Every tsunami in 1899 The 1800s Tsunamis of Greece 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 1254.