April 19, 1902 Tsunami: Ocos, Guatemala
A tsunami caused by a magnitude 7.5 earthquake began at Ocos, Guatemala on April 19, 1902 at 02:23:30 UTC. It killed 2,000 people, counting the earthquake or eruption that caused it.
Where the waves reached
The source of the tsunami. No runup with a place is recorded for it.
- Under 1 m
- 1 to 3 m
- 3 to 10 m
- 10 to 30 m
- 30 m and more
- Height not recorded
The tsunami
- Date
- April 19, 1902, 02:23:30 UTC
- Source
- Ocos, Guatemala
- Cause
- Earthquake
- Earthquake
- Magnitude 7.5, 33 km deep
- Runups recorded
- 0
- Waters
- A lake or river, not the ocean
- How certain
- An event that only caused a seiche
- Source location
- 14.000° N, 91.000° W
The toll
- Deaths
- 2,000 with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
- Damage
- Severe (about $5 to $25 million) 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 earthquake set up standing waves in the lake of San Cristobal in Alta Vezapaz . . . . " (reference #273)
Standing waves in Lake San Cristobal. The coast in the Ocos region subsided 1 m. (reference #1402)
The earthquake set up standing waves in the lake of San Cristobal in Alta Verapaz and caused water to slosh from a reservoir at Chilalha, 170 km from the epicentral area. ... There is no evidence that the earthquake was associated with a seismic sea wave: modern writers wrongly associate this earthquake with the tidal wave of 27 February in El Salvador. (reference #8015)
Reference #12345 lists validity 2 (questionable tsunami). (accessed August 2024)
More
Every tsunami in 1902The 1900sTsunamis of GuatemalaThe 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 5063.