January 24, 1965 Tsunami: Sanana Island, Indonesia
A tsunami caused by a magnitude 7.6 earthquake began at Sanana Island, Indonesia on January 24, 1965 at 00:11:12 UTC. Its effects were recorded at 4 places in at least 2 countries. It killed 71 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
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
- January 24, 1965, 00:11:12 UTC
- Source
- Sanana Island, Indonesia
- Cause
- Earthquake
- Earthquake
- Magnitude 7.6, 6 km deep
- Runups recorded
- 4
- Tsunami intensity (Soloviev-Imamura)
- 2
- Tsunami magnitude (Iida)
- 2
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Definite tsunami
- Source location
- 2.400° S, 126.100° E
The toll
- Deaths
- 71
- Damage
- Extreme (about $25 million or more); Moderate (about $1 to $5 million) with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
- Houses destroyed
- 3,000
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:
1965, January 24. Validity 3. There was a large destructive earthquake on Sulawesi Island. It was accompanied by a tsunami. According to press accounts, 3,000 homes and 14 bridges were destroyed; 71 people were killed. The tsunami destroyed 90% of the houses of Sanana City and also did damage ot Namlea on Buru Island on Manogole Island.
Reference #45:
Sanana, Indonesia, reported 71 persons were killed by the earthquake and accompanying tsunami.
Reference #1188 and #12633 lists 5 killed due to tsunami
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sanana, Sanana Island | Indonesia | 42 | Eyewitness observation of water height | 71 | |||
| Mangole Island | Indonesia | 98 | Eyewitness observation of water height | ||||
| Namlea, Buru Island | Indonesia | 149 | |||||
| Pago Pago, American Samoa, AS doubtful | US Territories | 7,064 |
More
Every tsunami in 1965The 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 1963.