August 26, 1972 Tsunami: Solomon Sea, Papua New Guinea
A tsunami caused by a landslide began at Solomon Sea, Papua New Guinea on August 26, 1972 at 08:15 UTC. The water rose as high as 1.5 meters. Its effects were recorded at 2 places.
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
- August 26, 1972, 08:15 UTC
- Source
- Solomon Sea, Papua New Guinea
- Cause
- Landslide
- Maximum water height
- 1.5 m (4.9 ft)
- Runups recorded
- 2
- Tsunami magnitude (Iida)
- 0.6
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Probable tsunami
- Source location
- 6.700° S, 147.000° 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.
On August 26, 1972 at about 18hr 15 min (local time unusual waves were observed in Woko Point Harbor in Lae. According to an eyewitness account, the wave arrived in the open gulf/harbor and passed by; another wave appeared with much greater force, flooded one boat, and threw another boat ashore. The interval between the first and second waves was about 2 min. Sea level rose to 1.5 m above normal, followed by a drop to 0.9 m below normal. About 3 km from Woko Point, at the main pier of Lae, a drop in sea level was observed at 18hr 10min (+- 3 min) local time and continued for 10 min. The maximum was 4 cm. The drop in level may have been preceded by a small rise of short duration but the instrument in use was not designed for recording such oscillations.
Between 18h 11.5min and 18hr 30min local time, a seismograph positioned 8 km from the coast, near the Technological Institute at Lae, recorded tremors which may not have been caused by the earthquake but by underwater slumps which may have been the cause of these unusual tsunami-type sea waves.
(above from reference #417)
Between 0811. 5 and 0830 1811. 5 and 1830 local time the Bureau of Mineral Resources' seismograph, sited about 8 km inland near the Lae Institute of Technology, recorded ground vibrations which were not from an earthquake but were considered to be due to a submarine landslide (submarine, because of the lengthy period over which sliding occurred). This landslide would have certainly been the cause of the anomalous sea waves, which were of the same type as the tsunamis commonly notes as a result of the anomalous sea waves, which were of the same type as the tsunamis commonly noted as a result of submarine slides caused by earthquakes.' (reference #99)
In one locality at Lae, Papua New Guinea, on 26 August 1972, the sea level fluctuated over a range of about 2.4 metres during a period of several minutes. Tide-guage and seismograph records suggest that a submarine slump close to the shore at Lae caused the abnormal sea waves, which could be termed a tsunami. (reference #2816)
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lae (Woko Point) | Papua New Guinea | 5 | 1.5 | Eyewitness observation of water height | |||
| Lae | Papua New Guinea | 5 | 0.04 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) |
More
Every tsunami in 1972The 1900sTsunamis of Papua New GuineaThis 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 2052.