August 9, 1912 Tsunami: Marmara Sea, Turkey

Name: August 9, 1912 Tsunami: Marmara Sea, Turkey
Start: 1912-08-09
Location: Marmara Sea, Turkey

August 9, 1912 · 2.7 m · 2,800 deaths · 24,700 houses destroyed · Definite tsunami

A tsunami caused by a magnitude 7.2 earthquake and a landslide began at Marmara Sea, Turkey on August 9, 1912 at 01:29:02 UTC. The water rose as high as 2.7 meters. Its effects were recorded at 6 places. It killed 2,800 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

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: August 9, 1912, 01:29:02 UTC
Source: Marmara Sea, Turkey
Cause: Earthquake and landslide
Earthquake: Magnitude 7.2, 15 km deep
Maximum water height: 2.7 m (8.9 ft)
Runups recorded: 6
Waters: Ocean
How certain: Definite tsunami
Source location: 40.730° N, 27.121° E

The toll

Deaths: 2,800 with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
Injuries: 7,000 with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
Damage: Extreme (about $25 million or more) with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
Houses destroyed: 24,700 with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
Houses damaged: 15,400 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.

Reference #2130:

1912, August 9, 03h30m. Validity 2 (questionable tsunami). Zone of the Sea of Marmara. A catastrophic earthquake occurred with its centre at the base of the Gallipoli Peninsula. According to field observations and to interpreted satellite photographs, a right-hand shear fault took place over 3 m in size along the diagonal fault extending from the apex of the Gulf of Saros at an azimuth of 65" through the base of the Gallipoli Peninsula towards the point of Gazikoy (Ganos - ref) on the coast of the Sea of Marmara and farther, apparently, continuing on the sea -bottom. The length of the ground part of the fault is 50 km. Certain vertical movements also took place: the south-eastern block with the mountain ridge of Tekirdag rose a little, the north-western block sank. A complex system of ruptures was formed at the earth's surface in the zone of the fault the width of which amounted to 5 km. Numerous rockfalls, screes, collapses, changes in the conditions of ground and underground water, cracking of the earth, the dilution of coastal marine and lacustrine sediments. Mud with oil was thrown out of some fissures, bitumen was extruded and so on. The earthquake lasted 40 s within the focal zone, and over 1 min far away fiom it. 2,800 inhabitants were killed, 7,000 inhabitants were wounded, 12,600 houses were destroyed completely in more than 300 settlements, and 12,100 houses were damaged beyond repair; a further 15,400 houses were seriously damaged. 241 mosques and 72 churches were also destroyed.

After the earthquake, the sea receded a certain distance from the shore along the coast of the Sea of Marmara near Tekirdug and in the straits, and then it came back with force, but did no damage. The waves were especially powerful in the southern part of the Sea of Marmara.

Reference #13075:

The documents about the tsunami event of 1912 earthquake is scarce due to critical political developments in the Balkans at that time.

The most significant findings about tsunami event were classified depending on their observation place. Even some cases (e.g. Abdimi, Eriklice, Gazikoy and Evrese) do not directly indicate a mature tsunami development, we considered them to present a complete documentation of the pre seismic and post-seismic effects of the earthquake to the marine environment

Reference #11164:

1912, August 9, 01h29m UTC. Reliability 4 (Definite tsunami), cause earthquake and marine landslide.

Reference #9275:

1912, August 9, 01h29m UTC. Reliability 4 (Definite tsunami). Earthquake marine slide source. 2800 casualties.

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	Measured by
Hayirsiz Island	Turkey	32		Eyewitness observation of water height
Tekirdag	Turkey	42		Eyewitness observation of water height
Canakkale	Turkey	88		Eyewitness observation of water height
Yesilkoy	Turkey	128	2.7	Eyewitness observation of water height
Kadikoy	Turkey	165		Eyewitness observation of water height
Pasabahce	Turkey	171		Eyewitness observation of water height

Every tsunami in 1912 The 1900s Tsunamis of Turkey 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 2325.