May 14, 1970 Tsunami: Caspian Sea, Russia
A tsunami caused by a magnitude 6.7 earthquake began at Caspian Sea, Russia on May 14, 1970 at 18:12:26 UTC. It killed 31 people, counting the earthquake or eruption that caused it.
Where the waves reached
The source of the tsunami. No runup with a place is recorded for it.
- 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
- May 14, 1970, 18:12:26 UTC
- Source
- Caspian Sea, Russia
- Cause
- Earthquake
- Earthquake
- Magnitude 6.7, 44 km deep
- Runups recorded
- 0
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Probable tsunami
- Source location
- 43.191° N, 47.140° E
The toll
- Deaths
- 31 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
- Some (about 51 to 100) with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
- Houses damaged
- Very many (over 1,000) 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.
On May 14, 1970 a foreshock at 09:20 UTC (magnitude 5.7) and main shock at 18:12 UTC (magnitude 6.5) in the Eastern Caucasus region caused heavy casualties and extensive damage in Dagestan. A UPI press release from Moscow stated that, "The quakes began about noon last Thursday and continued through Friday, tumbling houses, triggering rockslides, opening fissures, and setting off tidal waves that submerged sand dunes along the Caspian Seacoast." (reference #2778)
More
Every tsunami in 1970The 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 3073.