January 17, 1929 Tsunami: Cumana, Venezuela
A tsunami caused by a magnitude 6.9 earthquake began at Cumana, Venezuela on January 17, 1929 at 11:52 UTC. The water rose as high as 6 meters. Its effects were recorded at 5 places. It killed 50 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
- January 17, 1929, 11:52 UTC
- Source
- Cumana, Venezuela
- Cause
- Earthquake
- Earthquake
- Magnitude 6.9
- Maximum water height
- 6 m (19.7 ft)
- Runups recorded
- 5
- Tsunami magnitude (Iida)
- 1
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Definite tsunami
- Source location
- 10.600° N, 65.600° W
The toll
- Deaths
- 50 with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
- Injuries
- 800 with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
- Damage
- Severe (about $5 to $25 million)
- Houses destroyed
- Many (101 to 1,000)
- Houses damaged
- Many (101 to 1,000)
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.
The tsunami caused great damage at Cumana, and was also reported at Manicuare, El Barbudo, El Salado, and Puerto Sucre. Many boats and dwellings were wrecked by the tsunami. (reference #537)
These several accounts provide very useful information for the understanding of what precisely happened during the January 17th, 1929 earthquake and tsunami that struck Cumana, and particularly its western coast, extending between the Manzanares River mouth to the North and the city port named Puerto Sucre to the South, and affecting the fishermen village of the El Salado sitting on that coast stretch. It is worth noting that this western coast stretch of Cumana, although in a partly-protected large embayment opened to sea towards the West, is more exposed to open sea; reason why the seaport sits there. (reference #12526)
The sea receded about 200 meters, followed by a wave ranging from 3 to 6 meters high, according to eyewitness accounts, which destroyed beachfront homes, reached as far as El Salado and El Dique, and flowed into the river’s mouth as far as the vicinity of the Guzman Blanco Bridge, causing the river to rise. Boats anchored in Puerto Sucre were swept away by the receding sea and carried away from the coast; other boats were washed back onto the beach. A Dutch ship anchored there was violently shaken. (reference #14459)
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cumana | Venezuela | 154 | 6 | Eyewitness observation of water height | |||
| El Salado, Cumana | Venezuela | 155 | 2.74 | Eyewitness observation of water height | |||
| El Barbudo | Venezuela | 158 | Eyewitness observation of water height | ||||
| Puerto Sucre | Venezuela | 196 | Eyewitness observation of water height | ||||
| Manicuare | Venezuela | 245 | Eyewitness observation of water height |
More
Every tsunami in 1929The 1900sTsunamis of VenezuelaThe 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 1612.