January 8, 1925 Tsunami: Banda Sea, Indonesia
A tsunami caused by an earthquake began at Banda Sea, Indonesia on January 8, 1925. The water rose as high as 1 meters. Its effects were recorded at 1 place.
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
The tsunami
- Date
- January 8, 1925
- Source
- Banda Sea, Indonesia
- Cause
- Earthquake
- Earthquake
- The earthquake
- Maximum water height
- 1 m (3.3 ft)
- Runups recorded
- 1
- Tsunami intensity (Soloviev-Imamura)
- 0
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Very doubtful tsunami
- Source location
- 8.000° S, 115.000° E
The toll
The record gives no deaths, injuries or damage for this tsunami.
What the record says
NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.
January 8, 1925, 7:26 [local time]. There was an earthquake, which was felt on the islands of Bali and Lombok and at Banjuwatigi with a force of about 3 degrees and was registered at Djakarta (Batavia) and at Malabar. At 10:00, at Baubau, on the west coast of Butung Island, with a mirror surface on the water and still water, a wave like a very long swell about 1 m high appeared suddenly. It was followed by several other similar waves of lesser height. The surface of the sea again returned to complete calm in about half an hour. The waves did no damage. No additional reports about unusual phenomena at sea were received in response to inquiries sent by the observatory at Djakarta (Batavia) to other Points on the coast of Sulawesi Island and the Lesser Sunda Islands. The time of appearance of the tsunami at Baubau corresponds to the calculated travel time of the tsunami from the source of the earthquake. [The earthquake was not registered at remote stations.] (reference #414)
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baubau, Butung Is. | Indonesia | 886 | 1 | Eyewitness observation of water height |
More
Every tsunami in 1925The 1900sTsunamis of IndonesiaThe 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 1549.