March 17, 1953 Tsunami: N. Kuril Islands, Russia

Name: March 17, 1953 Tsunami: N. Kuril Islands, Russia
Start: 1953-03-17
Location: N. Kuril Islands, Russia

March 17, 1953 · 3 m · Probable tsunami

A tsunami caused by a magnitude 5.8 earthquake began at N. Kuril Islands, Russia on March 17, 1953 at 13:04 UTC. The water rose as high as 3 meters. Its effects were recorded at 1 place.

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: March 17, 1953, 13:04 UTC
Source: N. Kuril Islands, Russia
Cause: Earthquake
Earthquake: Magnitude 5.8
Maximum water height: 3 m (9.8 ft)
Runups recorded: 1
Tsunami magnitude (Iida): 0.6
Waters: Ocean
How certain: Probable tsunami
Source location: 50.000° N, 156.500° E

The toll

The record gives no deaths, injuries or damage for this tsunami.

What the record says

NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.

A series of strong shocks following the earthquake of 1952 were accompanied by small tsunamis. A. E. Sviltlovsky (1957), referring to G. P. Chermnye (chief of the seismolgoical station of Petropavlovsk), indicates that on March 18, 1953, a tsunami 3 m. high was observed on the shores of Paramushir. The seismological stations registered an earthquake with its epicenter east of the island on March 17, 1953, at 13:04 Greenwich time (00:04 of March 18 by Petropavlosk time). (reference #413)

March 17, 1953, 13:04 UTC, 50 N, 156.5 E, magnitude 5.75, runup height 1.5 m at Paramushir. (reference #79)

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
Severo-Kurilsk, Paramushir Island	Russia	67	3		Eyewitness observation of water height

Every tsunami in 1953 The 1900s Tsunamis of Russia 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 1835.