1899 Tsunami: North Central Vietnam
A tsunami of unknown cause began at North Central Vietnam in 1899. The water rose as high as 3 meters. Its effects were recorded at 1 place.
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
- 1899
- Source
- North Central Vietnam
- Cause
- Unknown
- Maximum water height
- 3 m (9.8 ft)
- Runups recorded
- 1
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Probable tsunami
- Source location
- 19.000° N, 106.000° E
The toll
- Damage
- Limited (under about $1 million)
- Houses damaged
- Many (101 to 1,000)
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.
according to Nguyen Dinh Xuyen (2007), happened in a year at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. The event happened during a fine day, when waves with the height of half bamboo tree height (more than 3m) attacked the coast of Dien Chau, North Central Vietnam (Figure 1). The waves caused inundation with maximum inundation distance of more than 1km from the coast and the inundation depth of more than 1.5m. The waves damaged many houses, but it was uncertain how many people were killed. The examination of all earthquakes in the SCS during the period from 1880 to 1920 shows no earthquake that could generate significant tsunami at the Vietnamese coast. Thus, Nguyen Dinh Xuyen (2007) suggested that the waves might be generated by submarine landslide. (reference #12499)
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dien Chau | Vietnam | 48 | 3 | 1,000 | Eyewitness observation of water height |
More
Every tsunami in 1899The 1800sTsunamis of VietnamAlerts 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 5719.