April 21, 1958 Tsunami: Bengkulu, Sumatra, Indonesia
A tsunami caused by a magnitude 6.5 earthquake began at Bengkulu, Sumatra, Indonesia on April 21, 1958 at 22:37:46 UTC.
Where the waves reached
The source of the tsunami. No runup with a place is recorded for it.
- 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
- April 21, 1958, 22:37:46 UTC
- Source
- Bengkulu, Sumatra, Indonesia
- Cause
- Earthquake
- Earthquake
- Magnitude 6.5, 200 km deep
- Runups recorded
- 0
- Tsunami intensity (Soloviev-Imamura)
- 0.5
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Questionable tsunami
- Source location
- 4.500° S, 104.000° 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.
April 22, 1958, 5:40 [local time]. There was an earthquake at Bengkulu, Palembang, Telukbetung and Banten, about which 10 reports are available. The earthquake was accompanied by tidal flooding, and the height of waves gradually increased (Anon., 1959). [21.IV; 22h37m36S; 4.5 S., 104 E.; 200 km; M=6.7.] (reference #414)
More
Every tsunami in 1958The 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 1879.