February 26, 1961 Tsunami: Seikaido, Japan
A tsunami caused by a magnitude 7.6 earthquake began at Seikaido, Japan on February 26, 1961 at 18:10:48 UTC. The water rose as high as 0.65 meters. Its effects were recorded at 34 places. It killed 2 people, counting the earthquake or eruption that caused it.
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
The tsunami
- Date
- February 26, 1961, 18:10:48 UTC
- Source
- Seikaido, Japan
- Cause
- Earthquake
- Earthquake
- Magnitude 7.6, 74 km deep
- Maximum water height
- 0.65 m (2.1 ft)
- Runups recorded
- 34
- Tsunami intensity (Soloviev-Imamura)
- -0.5
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Definite tsunami
- Source location
- 31.600° N, 131.800° E
The toll
- Deaths
- 2 with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
- Injuries
- 7 with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
- Damage
- Moderate (about $1 to $5 million) with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
- Houses destroyed
- 170 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.
February 27, 1961, 3:11 [local time]. There was an earthquake with a source 80 km long off the eastern coast of Kyushu Island, at Hyuga-Nada. It caused a tsunami, which was registered by tide gauges from the Ryukyu Islands to the Boso Peninsula and Hachijo Island. The tsunami everywhere began with a flood tide, which shows the predominance of elevations at its source. According to Takahasi and Hatori, the mean period of the tsunami was 22 minutes. The energy of the tsunami, according to Hatori, was 3 X 1019 ergs. (reference #414)
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Uchiumiko | Japan | 34 | 0.65 | Eyewitness observation of water height | |||
| Aburatsu | Japan | 36 | 0.34 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | day 26, 18:13 | ||
| Sakaematsu | Japan | 41 | 0.3 | Eyewitness observation of water height | |||
| Miyazakiko | Japan | 47 | 0.1 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | day 26, 18:34 | ||
| Fukushima | Japan | 58 | 0.08 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | |||
| Hososhima | Japan | 93 | 0.62 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | day 26, 18:21 | ||
| Hososhima | Japan | 93 | 0.45 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | |||
| Nishinoomote | Japan | 123 | 0.13 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | day 26, 18:59 | ||
| Kamaegyoko | Japan | 134 | 0.08 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | |||
| Makurazaki | Japan | 147 | 0.07 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | day 26, 19:26 | ||
| Saekiko | Japan | 152 | 0.05 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | |||
| Mishoko | Japan | 166 | 0.35 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | |||
| Tosa-Shimizu | Japan | 170 | 0.5 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | day 26, 18:41 | ||
| Shimoda | Japan | 186 | 0.05 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | |||
| Uwajima | Japan | 194 | 0.13 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | day 26, 19:11 | ||
| Yawatahama | Japan | 213 | 0.14 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | day 26, 19:24 | ||
| Tosa-Shimoda | Japan | 262 | 0.05 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | day 26, 18:54 | ||
| Urado | Japan | 267 | 0.1 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | day 26, 19:07 | ||
| Kochi | Japan | 272 | 0.07 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | day 26, 19:14 | ||
| Komatsushima | Japan | 374 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | ||||
| Naze | Japan | 420 | 0.07 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | day 26, 19:22 | ||
| Kushimoto | Japan | 428 | 0.15 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | day 26, 18:45 | ||
| Owase | Japan | 495 | 0.07 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | |||
| Owase | Japan | 495 | 0.07 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | |||
| Yaene, Hachijo Island | Japan | 768 | 0.02 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | day 26, 20:09 | ||
| Aburatsubo | Japan | 827 | 0.03 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | day 26, 20:35 | ||
| Mera | Japan | 833 | 0.17 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | day 26, 20:31 | ||
| Mera | Japan | 833 | 0.18 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | |||
| Tokai | Japan | 916 | 0.1 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | day 26, 18:34 | ||
| Hebizaki | Japan | 0.1 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | day 26, 18:59 | |||
| Hosogi | Japan | 0.1 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | day 26, 18:57 | |||
| Misyo | Japan | 0.4 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | day 26, 19:07 | |||
| Namimi | Japan | 0.1 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | day 26, 18:29 | |||
| Suzureishi | Japan | 0.1 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | day 26, 18:29 |
More
Every tsunami in 1961The 1900sTsunamis of JapanThe 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 1914.