October 7, 1900 Tsunami: Bismarck Sea, Indonesia
A tsunami caused by a magnitude 6.9 earthquake began at Bismarck Sea, Indonesia on October 7, 1900 at 21:04 UTC. Its effects were recorded at 4 places in at least 2 countries. It killed 5 people.
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
- October 7, 1900, 21:04 UTC
- Source
- Bismarck Sea, Indonesia
- Cause
- Earthquake
- Earthquake
- Magnitude 6.9, 33 km deep
- Runups recorded
- 4
- Tsunami intensity (Soloviev-Imamura)
- 1.5
- Tsunami magnitude (Iida)
- 1
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Probable tsunami
- Source location
- 4.000° S, 140.000° E
The toll
- Deaths
- 5
- Damage
- Limited (under about $1 million)
- Houses destroyed
- 1
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.
Reference #414:
1900, October 8, 6:00-7:00 [local time], validity 3. There was an earthquake and a seaquake in the region of Wandammen bay lasting 15 seconds. There were many aftershocks; it was registered by the seismograph at Djkarta (Batavia). It was accompanied by tsunami waves. At Napan settlement, one home was washed away and tossed onto a hill and five people died, but for the rest, the damage was minor. The tsunami did not do any harm at Windessi. Milne: October 7, 1900, 21:00 UTC, 0 N, 130 E, Richter: October 7, 1900, 21:04 UTC, 4 S, 140 E, magnitude 7.8. [The instrumental data on the earthquake are in poor agreement with the macroseismic data.]
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Napan | Indonesia | 484 | Eyewitness observation of water height | 5 | |||
| Wandammen Bay | Indonesia | 624 | Eyewitness observation of water height | ||||
| Windessi | Indonesia | 666 | Eyewitness observation of water height | ||||
| Tobi Island | Palau | 1,255 | Eyewitness observation of water height |
More
Every tsunami in 1900The 1900sTsunamis of IndonesiaThe 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 1275.