April 22, 1928 Tsunami: Corinthos-Patras Gulf, Greece

Name: April 22, 1928 Tsunami: Corinthos-Patras Gulf, Greece
Start: 1928-04-22
Location: Corinthos-Patras Gulf, Greece

April 22, 1928 · 0.6 m · 20 deaths · 3,000 houses destroyed · Probable tsunami

A tsunami caused by a magnitude 6 earthquake began at Corinthos-Patras Gulf, Greece on April 22, 1928 at 20:13:46 UTC. The water rose as high as 0.6 meters. Its effects were recorded at 7 places. It killed 20 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

Tsunami warnings in force

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: April 22, 1928, 20:13:46 UTC
Source: Corinthos-Patras Gulf, Greece
Cause: Earthquake
Earthquake: Magnitude 6, 29 km deep
Maximum water height: 0.6 m (2.0 ft)
Runups recorded: 7
Tsunami intensity (Soloviev-Imamura): 3
Tsunami magnitude (Iida): 1.1
Waters: Ocean
How certain: Probable tsunami
Source location: 38.000° N, 23.000° E

The toll

Deaths: 20 with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
Damage: Extreme (about $25 million or more) with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
Houses destroyed: 3,000 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.

1928, April 22, 19:59 UTC. 38 N, 23.5 E, depth 29 km, magnitude 5.25, Aegean Sea, near the eastern shore of Greece. A catastrophic earthquake (intensity=XI), preceded by a strong shock of an hour earlier, took place on the Isthmus of Corinth. The sea level rose suddenly in the port of Karistos in the south of the island of Euboea: the rise of the sea level reached 30 cm for 10 min. Then the water rolled away from the coast at a velocity of 3-4 knots and became 10 cm lower. This phenomenon was repeated several times over 22 hours, reaching its greatest intensity at 11h, when one boat could not leave the port in spite of all the efforts of the oarsmen in it, and a sailing vessel could not come into the port, slued round and dropped anchor on the roadstead. Strange drops in the sea level were observed on the same day on the Island of Skyros to the east of the Island of Euboea. The movements of the sea should apparently have been related precisely to the strong earthquake that occurred on April 22, although the time of the earthquake and the reported time of the noticed oscillations of the sea level did not coincide. (reference #2130)

1928, April 22, 20:13:46 UTC. 38 N 23 E, earthquake magnitude 6, intensity 9, tsunami reliability 3, intensity 3, runup 200 m. Tsunami at Alexandropolis. (reference #4139)

1928, April 22, 20:13:46 UTC. 37o54'N, 23o5'E, earthquake magnitude 6.3, intensity IX, tsunami reliability 4, intensity iii, runup 210 m. Inundation in Aegean Sea. E. Corinth Gulf. (reference #2427)

1928 April 23-25. Grecian Archipelago; Piraeus, Chalkis, Nauplion, Alexandroupolis (H = 2) (tsunami intensity ii); Crete, Chania, Karystos (H = 3) (tsunami intensity ii+); Crete (H = 7) (tsunami intensity iii+). (reference #15)

1928 April 23-25. 42.4 N, 25.7 E, earthquake magnitude 4.6, intensity VI, tsunami intensity iii. Grecian Archipelago; Piraeus, Chalkis, Nauplion, Alexandroupolis, Crete, Chania, Karystos. (reference #20)

1928 April 23-25. Grecian Archipelago; Piraeus. Chalkis. Nauplion, Alexandroupolis (H =0.60m.) (m= ii). Crete, Chania, Karystos (H = 2.00m.) (m = iii +). Galanopoulos (1960, p. 26) mentions earthquake but no tsunami. (reference #29)

1928 April 23-25, 20:13:46 UTC. 37.9 N, 23 E, magnitude 6.3. Grecian Archipelago; Crete (M=3, H=2.1), Alexandroupolis (M=2, H=0.60m.), Carystos (M=2, H=0.3), Piraeus, Nafplio. (reference #330)

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	Measured by
Nauplion	Greece	51		Eyewitness observation of water height
Piraeus	Greece	57		Eyewitness observation of water height
Chalkis, Island of Euobea	Greece	73		Eyewitness observation of water height
Karystos, Island of Euobea	Greece	125	0.3	Eyewitness observation of water height
Skyros	Greece	170		Eyewitness observation of water height
Chania, Island of Crete	Greece	291		Eyewitness observation of water height
Alexandroupolis	Greece	401	0.6	Eyewitness observation of water height

Every tsunami in 1928 The 1900s Tsunamis of Greece The earthquake This day in weather history Alerts 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 1597.