June 25, 1904 Tsunami: Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia
A tsunami caused by a magnitude 8.3 earthquake began at Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia on June 25, 1904 at 14:45:36 UTC. 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
- June 25, 1904, 14:45:36 UTC
- Source
- Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia
- Cause
- Earthquake
- Earthquake
- Magnitude 8.3, 30 km deep
- Runups recorded
- 1
- Tsunami intensity (Soloviev-Imamura)
- 2
- Tsunami magnitude (Iida)
- 1
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Definite tsunami
- Source location
- 52.000° N, 159.000° E
The toll
The record gives no deaths, injuries or damage for this tsunami.
What the record says
NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.
Apparently these were the first tsunami-generating earthquakes in the Kurile-Kamchatka zone that were recorded by seismic stations.
B. Gutenberg and C. Richter determined the average values of the coordinates of the epicenter of 52N 150E and the following times of occurrence (Greenwich time) of the main June earthquakes: on the 25th (new style) at 14 hrs 45 min, on the 25th at 21 hrs 00 min, on the 27th at 00 hrs 09 min.
Sil'nitsky, after an account of the volcanic activity which preceded the earthquake, testifies:
"At seven o'clock in the morning the earthquake was repeated. At that time it was accompanied by the following phenomena: on the glassy surface of Avacha Bay there arose a huge wave which, reaching the shore, threw the boats and sloops which were drawn up there 30 sazhens farther up; the coastal bluffs surrounding the entrance to the Bay of Avacha were shattered and masses of earth fell into the sea with a roar. Under the earth, in the direction from Signal Hill to the Avacha Cone, there proceeded at this moment a sort of frightful roar, like the discharge of many cannon. The Koriatskaia and Avacha cones began to smoke and the underground shocks continued the whole day of June 13 [26th new style] with interruptions of less than an hour.
Thus according to Sil'nitsky, a tsunami was observed only in the second of the earthquakes of June.
Reprinting the story of A. Sil'nitsky in the Bulletin of the Permannet Central Seismological Commission, G.V. Levitsky committed a conspicuous negligence. In Sil'nitsky it says: "At that time it was accompanied by the following phenomena..." In the Bulletin we read: "At seven o'clock in the morning the earthquake recurred in the form of the following phenomena... " Thus, according to Sil'nitsky, at 7 o'clock there were observed an earthquake and a tsunami, while according to the Bulletin it was only a tsunami, which the reader is forced to associate with the quake at 3 o'clock.
(above from Reference #413)
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avacha Bay, Kamchatka | Russia | 113 |
More
Every tsunami in 1904The 1900sTsunamis of RussiaThe 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 1312.