November 8, 1905 Tsunami: North Aegean Sea, Greece
A tsunami caused by a magnitude 7.2 earthquake and a landslide began at North Aegean Sea, Greece on November 8, 1905 at 22:06:11 UTC. The water rose as high as 3 meters. Its effects were recorded at 1 place. It killed 11 people, counting the earthquake or eruption that caused it.
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
- November 8, 1905, 22:06:11 UTC
- Source
- North Aegean Sea, Greece
- Cause
- Earthquake and landslide
- Earthquake
- Magnitude 7.2, 15 km deep
- Maximum water height
- 3 m (9.8 ft)
- Runups recorded
- 1
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Probable tsunami
- Source location
- 40.092° N, 24.627° E
The toll
- Deaths
- 5; 11 with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
- Damage
- Moderate (about $1 to $5 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.
Reference #12677:
Importantly, from the analyzed documentary sources, we also found for the first time that a local but destructive tsunami wave accompanied the 1905 earthquake.
As regards the tsunami wave observed in association with the 1905 large earthquake, despite the several uncertainties involved [...] the scenario of landslide S1 involving the scar east of the arsanas, situated at the southern tip of Mt.Athos, appears as a very good candidate source for the wave generation.
This turned to the generation of a local but powerful tsunami of ~3 m in height in the arsanas (small port) of the locality Perdiki at the Kafsokalivion Monastery, southern side of Mt. Athos. From the documentary sources, we concluded that 11 people were killed, likely 6 by the landslide and 5 by the tsunami.
Reference #13873:
The 8 November 1905, M = 7.5 Athos earthquake triggered a tsunami by earthquake-induced landslides and rockfalls along the Mt. Athos southern coast. It affected the small port situated close to Perdiki area at the southern tip of the Athos peninsula resulting in five fatalities
Reference #13999:
Eleven persons were reportedly killed by the tsunami wave
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Perdiki, Mt. Athos | Greece | 25 | 3 | Eyewitness observation of water height | 5 |
More
Every tsunami in 1905The 1900sTsunamis of GreeceThe 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 5744.