September 20, 1920 Tsunami: Vanuatu Islands

Reference #414:

1920, September 21. Validity 4. There was an earthquake (20 S, 168 E, magnitude 8) with source off the New Hebrides Islands. The tsunami which arose was registered at Apia (Samoa Islands) 4 hours and 28 minutes after the earthquake.

Reference #8975:

1920, September. (public records and testimonies) An earthquake of Mw = 8.0 is recorded between Anatom (Vanuatu) and Mare at 1:39 am. The quake is felt in New Caledonia (Noumea, La Foa, Farino, Canala, Ouvea, etc., La France Australe dated 21 September 1920). On this fair weathered day, a tsunami flooded Ougnat, northern Ouvea, destructing crops.

Reference #236:

1920, September 20, 14:39. A magnitude 8.0 earthquake occurred in the area of New Hebrides. lida et aI. (967) report waves arrived at Apia at about 19:00. The tide gage record from the Apia Observatory is not available. Reports concerning this tsunami were not found in the O le Fa'atonu from American Samoa or the Samoa Times from Western Samoa. No other locality in the Pacific reported a tsunami from the earthquake. It is doubtful that this was a true tsunami. [reference #8975 reports tsunami observed at Ougnat, northern Ouvea]

Reference #14343:

According to the most recent research (Sahal et al.: A catalog of tsunamis in New Caledonia from March 28, 1875, to September 30, 2009, Comptes-rendus Géoscience, 342, 2010), an earthquake that occurred on September 20, 1920, in the New Hebrides archipelago (Vanuatu) is believed to have caused a tsunami felt in Ohnyot on the island of Ouvea (Loyalty Islands, New Caledonia). This tsunami is said to have flooded part of the island, destroying crops. According to another source, the same tsunami was observed in Apia (Samoa), 2,300 km east of New Caledonia. We do not yet have contemporary accounts of this event, although its seismic origin appears fairly certain.