December 28, 1974 Tsunami: Pakistan
A tsunami caused by a magnitude 6.2 earthquake began at Pakistan on December 28, 1974 at 12:11:43 UTC. It killed 5,300 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
The tsunami
- Date
- December 28, 1974, 12:11:43 UTC
- Source
- Pakistan
- Cause
- Earthquake
- Earthquake
- Magnitude 6.2, 22 km deep
- Runups recorded
- 0
- Waters
- A lake or river, not the ocean
- How certain
- Questionable tsunami
- Source location
- 35.100° N, 72.900° E
The toll
- Deaths
- 5,300 with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
- Injuries
- 17,000 with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
- Damage
- $3.3 million with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
- Houses destroyed
- Many (101 to 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.
Reference #96 lists this event but with a question mark ("?") for tsunami.
Reference #12345 lists this event as validity 3 (probable tsunami). (accessed July 2024)
More
Every tsunami in 1974The 1900sTsunamis of PakistanThe 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 2071.