February 1, 1938 Tsunami: Banda Sea, Indonesia
A tsunami caused by a magnitude 8.6 earthquake began at Banda Sea, Indonesia on February 1, 1938 at 19:04:22 UTC. The water rose as high as 1 meters. Its effects were recorded at 5 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
- February 1, 1938, 19:04:22 UTC
- Source
- Banda Sea, Indonesia
- Cause
- Earthquake
- Earthquake
- Magnitude 8.6, 25 km deep
- Maximum water height
- 1 m (3.3 ft)
- Runups recorded
- 5
- Tsunami intensity (Soloviev-Imamura)
- 1.5
- Tsunami magnitude (Iida)
- 1
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Definite tsunami
- Source location
- 5.045° S, 131.614° E
The toll
- Damage
- Moderate (about $1 to $5 million)
- Houses destroyed
- 24
- Houses damaged
- 8
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.
Reference #414:
February 2, 1938, 3:34 [local time] 19h04m18s UTC; 5.25 S,130.5 E, M=8.2. There was a strong earthquake on the east of Indonesia.
In the epicentral area the greatest damage was done not by the earthquake, but by the tsunami which it generated.
Reference #1188:
On Banda Island and also on Kei Island great damage was caused by tsunamis.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tajandu Island | Indonesia | 94 | Eyewitness observation of water height | ||||
| Tual | Indonesia | 142 | 1 | Eyewitness observation of water height | |||
| Banda Elat | Indonesia | 166 | 1 | Eyewitness observation of water height | |||
| Bandanaira (Banda-Neira), Banda Is. | Indonesia | 199 | Eyewitness observation of water height | ||||
| Fakfak | Indonesia | 246 | Eyewitness observation of water height |
More
Every tsunami in 1938The 1900sTsunamis of IndonesiaThe 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 1704.