September 7, 1915 Tsunami: El Salvador
A tsunami caused by a magnitude 7.7 earthquake began at El Salvador on September 7, 1915 at 01:20:49 UTC. Its effects were recorded at 1 place. It killed 7 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
- September 7, 1915, 01:20:49 UTC
- Source
- El Salvador
- Cause
- Earthquake
- Earthquake
- Magnitude 7.7, 80 km deep
- Runups recorded
- 1
- Tsunami intensity (Soloviev-Imamura)
- 0.5
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Very doubtful tsunami
- Source location
- 14.126° N, 89.007° W
The toll
- Deaths
- 7 with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
- Injuries
- Few (about 1 to 50) with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
- Damage
- Moderate (about $1 to $5 million) with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
- Houses destroyed
- Some (about 51 to 100) 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.
September 6, 1915, at night 01:20.8 UTC, 14 N, 89 W, depth 80 km, magnitude 7.75 MS. There was a strong earthquake in El Salvador. There are unreliable reports about a disturbance at sea, arising after the earthquake. The master of Barra de Santiago port reported that during the earthquake an enormous wave appeared at sea. The residents of the city were seized with panic. However, if we are to believe another eyewitness, situated at the same place, a hurricane raged; the sea was very agitated, but the above-mentioned enormous wave did not occur.
The weather was bad at night at Acajutla, and the sea was stormy; no one noticed any unusual waves.
The master of La Libertad port categorically denied the occurrence of any phenomena at sea either before or after the earthquake.
At El Triunfo Bay, according to a report of the port master, no greater disturbance was observed after the earthquake than that which was observed on the preceding three days, although flood tides were higher than usual all this time.
The master of La Union Port reported that, because of the rain and the hurricane, it could not be seen whether the earthquake affected the state of the sea. One of the observers kept track of the sea from 17:00 to the end of the earthquake. All this time, there were large waves. They reached enormous size not long before the seismic shock and began to diminish only some time after the earthquake.
(above from reference #415)
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barra DE Santiago | El Salvador | 119 | Eyewitness observation of water height |
More
Every tsunami in 1915The 1900sTsunamis of El SalvadorThe 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 1428.