December 1, 1928 Tsunami: Central Chile
A tsunami caused by a magnitude 7.6 earthquake began at Central Chile on December 1, 1928 at 04:06:12 UTC. The water rose as high as 1.5 meters. Its effects were recorded at 2 places. It killed 279 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
- December 1, 1928, 04:06:12 UTC
- Source
- Central Chile
- Cause
- Earthquake
- Earthquake
- Magnitude 7.6, 25 km deep
- Maximum water height
- 1.5 m (4.9 ft)
- Runups recorded
- 2
- Tsunami intensity (Soloviev-Imamura)
- 0.5
- Tsunami magnitude (Iida)
- 0.6
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Probable tsunami
- Source location
- 35.000° S, 72.000° W
The toll
- Deaths
- 279 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
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.
On 1928, December 1, 1928, at 0:07 [local time] there was an earthquake which destroyed Talca and Constitucion. A strong seaquake was felt on the "Santa Elisa" and "Poseidon" steamships situated 11-13 km off shore at Constitucion, in the direction of Valparaiso. The crew of the "Santa Elisa" reported that the vessel experienced "a strong trembling; it first appeared that some force was raising it above the water, and then tossing it down to the
depths." Waves of unusual size moved in every direction on the surface of the sea; a clear moonlit night made it possible to observe the waves for a considerable distance. This phenomenon lasted no more than 112 minutes. The steamship "Magdala" also felt a seaquake at 35o 33.5' S., 72o 54' W.
During the entire morning of December 1, irregular flood and ebb tides of unusual height were observed off the coast of Central Chile: At Constitucion, the water rose an estimated 1.5 m above the diurnal high tide line.
(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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Constitucion | Chile | 53 | 1.5 | Eyewitness observation of water height | |||
| Offshore Constitucion | Chile | 53 | Eyewitness observation of water height |
More
Every tsunami in 1928The 1900sTsunamis of ChileThe 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 1609.