December 23, 1930 Tsunami: Bismarck Sea, Papua New Guinea

Reference #414:

1930, December 23, 21:35:36 UTC, validity 3. 1.3 S, 144.3 E, magnitude 5.75 (ISS). The radiotelegraph station on the eastern part of New Guinea broadcast that, according to a report from the "Duris" steamship, on December 24, 1930, the Western Islets were hit by a destructive earthquake. The waves flooded the land to a height of 2.5 m (8 feet). Homes and cattle were washed away on Awin Island. The newspapers also reported that one European and many local residents escaped by scrambling up the palm trees. No reports of a tsunami were received from Indonesia. One letter mentions that at Sydney the tide gauge registered a distinctive group of waves on December 24. The first indisputable oscillation occurred at 18:00, and the oscillations continued for 7 hours.

1931, January. A large tsunami was reported in New Guinea. [Incorrect date, apparently this concerns the tsunami of Dec. 24, 1930.]

Reference #99

From the Administration Report to Prime Minister's Department, Canberra, 2 January 1931, for effects on North Coast, New Guinea 144-146 degree E from the event on Dec. 24, 1930:

On Kar Kar Island 15 natives were reported lost at sea by swamping of a canoe, but whether the sea roughened due to weather or due to the earthquake could not be determined.

On Sapara Island six adults and one child were killed by the tsunami. Indications show that the water attained a height of 20 to 25 feet at Sapara and swept inland to a depth of approximately two to three hundred yards, washing masses of coral reef ashore and wrecking everything in its path except for full grown coconuts and large isolated trees.

To the north of Sapara the village of Simbini suffered the most damage - 24 houses being destroyed. At Awar Plantation the wave attained a height of about 12 feet.

From the Administration Report to Prime Minister's Department, Canberra, 2 January 1931, for effects on Ninigo Group, New Guinea from the event on Dec. 24, 1930:

At the time of the occurrence, some of the natives of the island of Lau were engaged in cutting copra [on Mal Island]. One child and one man were drowned. The natives employed by a trochus fisher were caught in the wave, but all escaped though some of them were bruised and bumped by the floating debris.

Some of these men tried to save themselves as they were being washed across the end of the island by catching at the fronds of the coconut palms. As the palms are about 30 to 40 feet in height this will give some idea of the size of the wave. If the waves had occurred at high tide the loss of life and damage to property would have been much greater...

Practically all the native canoes at the affected places were either broken or damaged and there was a fairly heavy toll of pigs, fowls and dogs.

Except for minor instances native gardens were not affected or damaged but all Kapiaks, Betelnut, banana paw-paw and other natural products growing on areas affected by the wave have died from the effects of the salt water...

Natives report that a similar occurrence happened 40 to 50 years ago and there is no doubt that the knowledge of the previous event minimized casualties, in that when the sea began to recede the majority of the natives ran into the bush...

To sum up the position as far as the District of Manus is concerned, is that it has had a very fortunate escape. Had the waves occurred at high tide it seems almost certain that the loss of life, and damage to property would have been very much greater, and must have been in the nature of a calamity. As it is, there has been no loss of European life and no Europeans injured. The native losses are five drowned and four injured. The loss to property, both native and European, cannot be called great.