October 31, 1912 Tsunami: Caroline Islands, Micronesia

Name: October 31, 1912 Tsunami: Caroline Islands, Micronesia
Start: 1912-10-31
Location: Caroline Islands, Micronesia

October 31, 1912 · Very doubtful tsunami

A tsunami caused by a magnitude 6.9 earthquake began at Caroline Islands, Micronesia on October 31, 1912 at 17:24 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

Tsunami warnings in force

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 31, 1912, 17:24 UTC
Source: Caroline Islands, Micronesia
Cause: Earthquake
Earthquake: Magnitude 6.9, 33 km deep
Runups recorded: 1
Tsunami intensity (Soloviev-Imamura): 0
Waters: Ocean
How certain: Very doubtful tsunami
Source location: 7.000° N, 138.000° 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.

Reference #236:

1912, October 31, 17:24. A magnitude 6.7 earthquake occurred south of the Yap Islands where it was felt. The surf made an unusual sound although the weather was calm.

(Soloviev and Go, 1974, p. 192).

Reference #414:

1912, November 1, about 2:00. Validity questionable. An earthquake (7 N, 138 E, magnitude 7) with an intensity of 3 degrees (Rossi-Forel) lasting 5 seconds, was felt on Yap Island. It was reported that a few moments after the shock, an unusual noise of sea surf was heard, although the weather was completely still (Maso 1912 a).

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
Yap Island, Caroline Islands	Micronesia	279			Eyewitness observation of water height

Every tsunami in 1912 The 1900s Tsunamis of Micronesia The earthquake This day in weather history Alerts 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 1403.