August 4, 1921 Tsunami: Xiaosi, Dandong, Liaoning, China
A tsunami caused by an earthquake began at Xiaosi, Dandong, Liaoning, China on August 4, 1921.
Where the waves reached
The source of the tsunami. No runup with a place is recorded for it.
- Under 1 m
- 1 to 3 m
- 3 to 10 m
- 10 to 30 m
- 30 m and more
- Height not recorded
The tsunami
- Date
- August 4, 1921
- Source
- Xiaosi, Dandong, Liaoning, China
- Cause
- Earthquake
- Earthquake
- The earthquake
- Runups recorded
- 0
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Probable tsunami
- Source location
- 40.130° N, 124.380° E
The toll
- Damage
- Moderate (about $1 to $5 million)
- Houses destroyed
- Few (about 1 to 50); Many (101 to 1,000) 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 #3939: "Earthquake occurred at Xiaosi, Dandong, Liaoning. A number of houses collapsed, tsunami broke the dyke and flooded dozens of kilometers of land. Epicenter uncertain."
Dandong (40.13N, 124.38E) earthquake in Liaoning triggered tsunami; tsunami became hazard in Andong coastal areas. Water depth was several meters in Xiaosi area, huge waters crossed dozens of li (1 li ¼ 0.5 km). All original dam was washed away, many houses collapsed, most crops were flooded and destroyed. (Dandong Chronicle of events, 2007) (reference #12988)
More
Every tsunami in 1921The 1900sTsunamis of ChinaThe 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 3537.