December 31, 1966 Tsunami: Santa Cruz Islands, Solomon Islands
A tsunami caused by a magnitude 7.8 earthquake began at Santa Cruz Islands, Solomon Islands on December 31, 1966 at 18:23:11 UTC. The water rose as high as 2 meters. Its effects were recorded at 7 places in at least 6 countries.
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
- December 31, 1966, 18:23:11 UTC
- Source
- Santa Cruz Islands, Solomon Islands
- Cause
- Earthquake
- Earthquake
- Magnitude 7.8, 83 km deep
- Maximum water height
- 2 m (6.6 ft)
- Runups recorded
- 7
- Tsunami intensity (Soloviev-Imamura)
- 1
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Definite tsunami
- Source location
- 11.893° S, 166.445° 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.
Reference #414:
1966, December 31, 18:23:04 UTC [1967, January 1, 5:23 local time]. Validity 4. There was an 8-9 degree earthquake on Vanikoro Island. There were avalanches and a tsunami within the lagoon. The height of waves was 2 m. The tsunami was registered at Suva and Pago Pago with heights of 9 and 6 cm, and also perhaps on Easter Island, at Kahului and Unalaska. [31.XII; 18h23m04s; 11.8 S., 166.5 E.; 33 km; Ms 8.1]
Reference #79:
1966, December 31, 18:23 UTC. 11.8 S, 166.5 E. Tsunami source: New Hebrides. Tsunami observation: Vanikoro, New Hebrides 2m; Suva, Fiji < 0.1 m.
Reference #236:
1966, December 31, 18:23. A magnitude 7.5 earthquake in the Santa Cruz Islands caused a small tsunami of 2 m in the New Hebrides and 0.03 m at Pago Pago. (Pararas Carayannis
and Dong. 1980; lida et al., 1967)
Reference #45:
1966, December 31. Santa Cruz Islands. Two major earthquakes, less than four hours apart(1823 and 2215 UTC), struck an uninhabited area on Dec 31, but no damage was reported due to their location. However two slight tsunamis were generated. The first wave reached an amplitude 6 2/3 feet at Vanikoro, Santa Cruz Islands; the second registered 5 feet at Vanikoro.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vanikolo (Vanikoro), Santa Cruz Is. | Solomon Islands | 65 | 2 | Eyewitness observation of water height | |||
| Suva, King'S Wharf | Fiji | 1,461 | 0.05 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | |||
| Pago Pago, American Samoa, AS | US Territories | 2,493 | 0.03 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | |||
| Christmas Island, Line Islands doubtful | Kiribati | 4,276 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | ||||
| Kahului, Maui, HI, HI doubtful | United States | 5,441 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | ||||
| Unalaska, Dutch Harbor, AK, AK doubtful | United States | 7,725 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | ||||
| Easter Island | Chile | 8,843 | Eyewitness observation of water height |
More
Every tsunami in 1966The 1900sTsunamis of Solomon IslandsThe 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 2425.