November 22, 1969 Tsunami: Kamchatka, Russia
A tsunami caused by a magnitude 7.7 earthquake began at Kamchatka, Russia on November 22, 1969 at 23:09:37 UTC. The water rose as high as 15 meters. Its effects were recorded at 17 places in at least 4 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
The tsunami
- Date
- November 22, 1969, 23:09:37 UTC
- Source
- Kamchatka, Russia
- Cause
- Earthquake
- Earthquake
- Magnitude 7.7, 51 km deep
- Maximum water height
- 15 m (49.2 ft)
- Runups recorded
- 17
- Tsunami intensity (Soloviev-Imamura)
- 3
- Tsunami magnitude (Iida)
- 3.9
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Definite tsunami
- Source location
- 57.700° N, 163.600° E
The toll
- Damage
- Limited (under about $1 million)
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.
The source region of this tsunami, determined by the compact cluster of aftershocks in the first days after the main shock, was 100 km x 40 km. Due to the sparsely populated coast, data on the tsunamis generated by this earthquake are available from only a few points. The wave rose to about 12-5 m at the mouth of the Ol'khovaya River. It was also registered on tide gauges in the Aleutian and Hawaiian Islands and very weak waves were noticed on the Japanese coast.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ol'Khovaya River | Russia | 24 | 15 | 500 | Eyewitness observation of water height | day 22, 23:25 | |
| Karaginskiy Bay | Russia | 130 | 7 | Flow depth, post-tsunami survey | |||
| Ust'Kamchatsk, Kamchatka | Russia | 164 | 0.2 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | |||
| Nikolskoe, Bering I, Commander I | Russia | 315 | 2.5 | 150 | Eyewitness observation of water height | ||
| Lavrona Inlet, Govena Peninsula | Russia | 358 | Eyewitness observation of water height | ||||
| Attu, Massacre Bay, AK, AK | United States | 815 | 1.1 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | |||
| Shemya Island, AK, AK | United States | 866 | 0.88 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | |||
| Adak, Sweeper Cove, AK, AK | United States | 1,421 | 0.3 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | |||
| Unalaska, Dutch Harbor, AK, AK | United States | 1,904 | 0.1 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | |||
| Midway Islands, HI | US Territories | 3,597 | 0.1 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | |||
| Wake Island, UM | US Territories | 4,271 | 0.2 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | |||
| Port Alberni, British Columbia, BC | Canada | 4,615 | 0.09 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | day 23, 07:30 | ||
| Nawiliwili, Kauai, HI, HI | United States | 4,963 | 0.1 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | |||
| Honolulu, Oahu, HI, HI | United States | 5,098 | 0.1 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | |||
| Kahului, Maui, HI, HI | United States | 5,206 | 0.1 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | |||
| Hilo, Hawaii, HI, HI | United States | 5,390 | 0.1 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | |||
| Pago Pago, American Samoa, AS | US Territories | 8,320 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) |
More
Every tsunami in 1969The 1900sTsunamis of RussiaThe 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 2016.