November 27, 1914 Tsunami: Ionian Sea, Greece

Name: November 27, 1914 Tsunami: Ionian Sea, Greece
Start: 1914-11-27
Location: Ionian Sea, Greece

November 27, 1914 · 3 m · 14 deaths · Very doubtful tsunami

A tsunami caused by a magnitude 6.3 earthquake and a landslide began at Ionian Sea, Greece on November 27, 1914 at 14:39:42 UTC. The water rose as high as 3 meters. Its effects were recorded at 1 place. It killed 14 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: November 27, 1914, 14:39:42 UTC
Source: Ionian Sea, Greece
Cause: Earthquake and landslide
Earthquake: Magnitude 6.3, 15 km deep
Maximum water height: 3 m (9.8 ft)
Runups recorded: 1
Tsunami intensity (Soloviev-Imamura): 4
Tsunami magnitude (Iida): 1.7
Waters: Ocean
How certain: Very doubtful tsunami
Source location: 38.582° N, 20.587° E

The toll

Deaths: 14 with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
Damage: Severe (about $5 to $25 million) with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
Houses destroyed: Many (101 to 1,000) with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
Houses damaged: Some (about 51 to 100) 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.

1914, November 27, 14:40 UTC. 38.75 N, 20.5 E, earthquake intensity X, magnitude 6.25, tsunami intensity 4. In the Ionian Sea on the island of Levkas, a strong earthquake caused considerable destruction in the western part of the island. The large landslide that occurred during the earthquake from the northern artificial coast of the estuary of the River Demossari resulted in fissures of 8 - 10 m and in subsidence of the breakwater in Nydri located nearby. A wave 2 - 3 m high (from other data, 11 m) was generated as a result of this landslide. (reference #2130)

1914, November 27, 14:39:46 UTC. 38o48'E, 20o36'E, earthquake magnitude 6.3, intensity IX, tsunami reliability 1. Strong shock in the Ionian Islands, particularly at Leukada. Cumulative effects due to many shocks in the previous days. Landslides, changes in wells, casualties. At Leukada (St.Maura) a wave 3.50 m height, tsunami intensity IV according to Antonopoulos (r417), that is the only source to which all the other authors refer. Further references: Soloviev (r414), Galanopoulos (r479), Papadopoulos (r80), Antonopoulos (r392, r573). (reference #4139)

A sea wave (tsunami) of 2-3m height was also observed (Eginitis, 1916c; Galanopoulos, 1955). Critikos (1916) reports that during the last days of November an unusual rise of the sea of 35 cm above the usual sea level was observed in Leukada. The waters rushed in a distance of 6-7m and covered a large part of the road along the coast. On the contrary, during the earthquake of 27 November the waters lowered. The inhabitants of Leukada call this phenomenon of the sea rising basies (entrances) and consider it as a precursory phenomenon. A similar phenomenon was observed before the large earthquake of 1869. (reference #4408)

1914 November 27, 38.8 N, 20.6 E, improbable tsunami (reference #11164, v.2)

“In Nydri village [east coast of Lefkada Isl.] the pier detached and sunk at depth of 2.5 m. In the same village, a sea wave was generated, which according to estimations of local people was 2–3 m high”. This sea wave remains of questionable origin since it is not clear if the sea disturbance was a tsunami produced by the earthquake or by the pier detachment and sinking. (reference #13999)

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
Nydri, Levkas Island, Ionian Is	Greece	13	3		Eyewitness observation of water height

Every tsunami in 1914 The 1900s Tsunamis of Greece 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 1420.