January 11, 1962 Tsunami: Dalmatian Coasts, Croatia

Name: January 11, 1962 Tsunami: Dalmatian Coasts, Croatia
Start: 1962-01-11
Location: Dalmatian Coasts, Croatia

January 11, 1962 · 0.04 m · 1 death · 2,290 houses destroyed · Probable tsunami

A tsunami caused by a magnitude 6.1 earthquake began at Dalmatian Coasts, Croatia on January 11, 1962 at 05:05 UTC. The water rose as high as 0.04 meters. Its effects were recorded at 1 place. It killed 1 person, 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

Tsunami warnings in force

The tsunami

Date: January 11, 1962, 05:05 UTC
Source: Dalmatian Coasts, Croatia
Cause: Earthquake
Earthquake: Magnitude 6.1, 33 km deep
Maximum water height: 0.04 m (0.1 ft)
Runups recorded: 1
Waters: Ocean
How certain: Probable tsunami
Source location: 43.300° N, 17.100° E

The toll

Deaths: 1 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: 2,290 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.

According to Pasaric et al., (2012)" The tide gauge at Split did register intensified high-frequency sea-level variability, starting 40 min after the mainshock, with a maximum trough-to-crest height of about 7 cm. (reference #11164)

Let us return to the question posed in the title of the paper: Did the Makarska earthquake of 1962 generate a tsunami in the central Adriatic archipelago? The findings discussed above suggest that the answer to this question is probably yes, a small one. Although the agreement between the observed and modelled time series is good, the low signal-to-noise ratio prevents us from giving a more categorical answer. (reference #2862)

[...] The earthquake caused a vertical sea-bottom displacement of 15 cm and a sea-floor deformation on the order of 10 km (Herak et al. 2001). The nearest tide gauge at Split did register intensified high-frequency sea-level variability, starting 40 min after the mainshock, with a maximum trough-to-crest height of about 7 cm (reference #9531)

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
Split	Croatia	58	0.04		Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height)

Every tsunami in 1962 The 1900s Tsunamis of Croatia 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 5631.