August 11, 1900 Tsunami: Lituya Bay, AK, United States
A tsunami caused by an earthquake and a landslide began at Lituya Bay, AK, United States on August 11, 1900 at 04:40 UTC. Its effects were recorded at 1 place. 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
- August 11, 1900, 04:40 UTC
- Source
- Lituya Bay, AK, United States
- Cause
- Earthquake and landslide
- Earthquake
- The earthquake
- Runups recorded
- 1
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Definite tsunami
- Source location
- 58.600° N, 137.500° W
The toll
- Deaths
- 5
- Damage
- Limited (under about $1 million)
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.
August 11, 1900, 04:40 GMT. An earthquake is reported at Lituya Bay on August 11. The shock was so heavy as to dislodge great quantities of ice from the five glaciers that
discharge in Lituya Bay. Five Indians, who were on a small island near the foot of one of the glaciers, were drowned in the tidal wave caused by the falling ice" (The Alaskan, Sitka, September 29, 1900, p. 4). The description sounds like a report by survivors. Miller (1960, p. 74) mentions a flood in Lituya Bay reported by fishermen to him in 1952. The flood destroyed a native fish saltery near the mouth of
the bay and occurred about 1899. There are three, not five, glaciers feeding Lituya Bay: Lituya, Cascade and North Crillon. There is only one permanent island in the bay, Cenotaph, but there is the possibility of small islands forming in the moraine material at the base of the
glaciers. (reference #239)
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lituya Bay, AK, AK | United States | 6 | Eyewitness observation of water height | 5 |
More
Every tsunami in 1900The 1900sTsunamis of United StatesThe 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 2812.