February 28, 1973 Tsunami: N. Kuril Islands, Russia
A tsunami caused by a magnitude 7.2 earthquake began at N. Kuril Islands, Russia on February 28, 1973 at 06:37:49 UTC. The water rose as high as 1.5 meters. Its effects were recorded at 7 places in at least 2 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
- February 28, 1973, 06:37:49 UTC
- Source
- N. Kuril Islands, Russia
- Cause
- Earthquake
- Earthquake
- Magnitude 7.2, 27 km deep
- Maximum water height
- 1.5 m (4.9 ft)
- Runups recorded
- 7
- Tsunami intensity (Soloviev-Imamura)
- 0.5
- Tsunami magnitude (Iida)
- 0.6
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Definite tsunami
- Source location
- 50.500° N, 156.600° 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.
The seismic shock, whose epicenter lay at a depth of 70 km below the ocean bottom, produced tsunami waves which reached the coast of the Kuril Islands at a height of 1.5 m.
Due to stormy weather and snow drifts, eyewitness accounts of the onset of the tsuanmi are very fragmentary with information available only from Cape Vasileva on the southern tip of Paramushir Island. L.V. Sharov, the head of the local hydrometeorological station, reported that for 20-25 min. the water line receded from 100 to 200 m and that two anomalous rises in water were noticed at heights of 40 cm and 80 cm. According to visual observations, the wave period was between 4 and 6 min. The first wave was noticed at Cape Vasileva at 18 hr 30 min, 52 minutes after the initial shock. Considering that the first weak tide of the wave was missed by the observer, the travel time of the wave from its source to the coast may be estimated at 48-49 min. Other visual observations are not available.
A tsunami was reocrded at three tide gauge locations: at the hydrometeorologicl stations at Severo-Kurilsk, at Shumshu, and at Matua.
(above from reference #417)
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shumshu Island, Kurilskiye | Russia | 28 | 0.6 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | day 28, 06:45 | ||
| Severo-Kurilsk, Paramushir Island | Russia | 39 | 0.76 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | day 28, 06:59 | ||
| Cape Vasileva, Paramushir I, Kurils | Russia | 101 | 0.8 | Eyewitness observation of water height | day 28, 07:26 | ||
| Matua, Kurilskiye | Russia | 362 | 0.07 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | day 28, 07:20 | ||
| Attu, Massacre Bay, AK, AK | United States | 1,175 | 0.1 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | |||
| Shemya Island, AK, AK | United States | 1,234 | 0.08 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | |||
| Coast of Kurilskiye | Russia | 1.5 |
More
Every tsunami in 1973The 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 2059.