July 11, 1976 Tsunami: Panama
A tsunami caused by a magnitude 6.7 earthquake began at Panama on July 11, 1976 at 16:54:31 UTC. It killed 5 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
- July 11, 1976, 16:54:31 UTC
- Source
- Panama
- Cause
- Earthquake
- Earthquake
- Magnitude 6.7, 22 km deep
- Runups recorded
- 0
- Tsunami magnitude (Iida)
- -1
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Very doubtful tsunami
- Source location
- 7.400° N, 78.100° W
The toll
- Deaths
- 5 with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
- Injuries
- 7 with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
- Damage
- Limited (under about $1 million) 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.
A "local" tsunami designation is assigned to this event, as well as a "-1" tsunami magnitude (Imamura-Iida scale) which is 50 cm. (reference #273)
In 1976, Pacific coastal communities in Panama were moderately affected by a tsunami following an earthquake, and in 1991 the Limon earthquake caused significant tsunami waves on the Caribbean coast. (reference #11947)
No reference to this tsunami event is found outside of reference #273. Note: reference #11947 cites reference #237
More
Every tsunami in 1976The 1900sTsunamis of PanamaThe 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 5669.