July 18, 1934 Tsunami: Costa Rica-Panama
A tsunami caused by a magnitude 7.7 earthquake began at Costa Rica-Panama on July 18, 1934 at 01:36:24 UTC. The water rose as high as 0.3 meters. Its effects were recorded at 3 places.
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
- July 18, 1934, 01:36:24 UTC
- Source
- Costa Rica-Panama
- Cause
- Earthquake
- Earthquake
- Magnitude 7.7, 60 km deep
- Maximum water height
- 0.3 m (1.0 ft)
- Runups recorded
- 3
- Tsunami intensity (Soloviev-Imamura)
- 1.5
- Tsunami magnitude (Iida)
- 1
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Probable tsunami
- Source location
- 8.000° N, 82.500° W
The toll
- Injuries
- 4 with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
- Damage
- Limited (under about $1 million); $50,000 with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
- Houses destroyed
- Some (about 51 to 100)
- Houses damaged
- 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 July 17, 1934, at 21:30 [local time] a destructive earthquake with its source in Chirika Bay (west of Panama) was felt on the coast with a force of about 7 degrees. A strong seaquake was felt on several American hydrographic ships, riding at anchor in the focal zone, particularly at Punta Burica and Montuosa Island. Apparently, a tsunami developed during the earthquake. At Puerto Armuelles, two large anchored buoys were displaced 300 m from the moorage
out to sea, in such a way that their relative position did not change. The water level several times passed the mark of the highest high tides, although flood tides should have been small at this time of year. The main street of the Indian village was covered with water several times and a number of homes facing the sea were completely washed out. The well of the temporary tide gauge, set up at Puerto Annuelles by the American hydrographic expedition, was also washed away. Ten minutes after the earthquake, this instrument apparently began to register a tsunami beginning with a strong ebb tide wave. During all this, nothing unusual was observed on the surface of the water. (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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Puerto Armuelles | Panama | 50 | Eyewitness observation of water height | ||||
| Puerto Armuelles | Panama | 50 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | ||||
| Bahia Honda | Panama | 113 | 0.3 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) |
More
Every tsunami in 1934The 1900sTsunamis of PanamaThe 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 2026-10-01. NCEI tsunami event 1671.