October 10, 1980 Tsunami: El Asnam, Algeria
A tsunami caused by a magnitude 7.1 earthquake and a landslide began at El Asnam, Algeria on October 10, 1980 at 12:25:26 UTC. The water rose as high as 0.7 meters. Its effects were recorded at 6 places. It killed 5,000 people, counting the earthquake or eruption that caused it.
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
- October 10, 1980, 12:25:26 UTC
- Source
- El Asnam, Algeria
- Cause
- Earthquake and landslide
- Earthquake
- Magnitude 7.1, 10 km deep
- Maximum water height
- 0.7 m (2.3 ft)
- Runups recorded
- 6
- Tsunami intensity (Soloviev-Imamura)
- 2
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Definite tsunami
- Source location
- 36.199° N, 1.374° E
The toll
- Deaths
- 5,000 with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
- Injuries
- 9,000 with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
- Damage
- $5.2 billion with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
- Houses destroyed
- 250,000 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.
Sergey Soloviev studied this event in a trip to Spain in October 1988, and gives his findings in Soloviev et al. (Reference #2130). Weak tsunami waves were recorded by six tide gauges on the south-eastern shore of the Iberian Peninsula. He found the mechanism of this event similar to the earthquake and tsunami of 1954 in the same region. He concluded that the tsunami was "generated by a strong turbidity current caused by the powerful underwater landslide, that was caused by the earthquake on the steep underwater slope of Africa covered abundantly by loose sediments."
Tsunami caused by one or more major underwater slides also producing turbidity currents (Soloviev, r422). Tide gauge records at Alicante are also available at the Instituto Geografico nacional, Madrid. (reference #4139)
1980 10 10, EI-Asnam, Algeria: Large (M=7.3), destructive shock. A weak tsunami, caused by one or more underwater slides, was recorded by tide-gauges in Spanish coasts. (reference #10357)
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cartagena | Spain | 261 | 0.7 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | |||
| Alicante, Outer Pier | Spain | 290 | 0.15 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | day 10, 13:15 | ||
| Alicante, Inner Pier | Spain | 290 | 0.48 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | day 10, 13:20 | ||
| Almeria | Spain | 348 | 0.08 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | day 10, 13:12 | ||
| Malaga | Spain | 522 | 0.25 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | day 10, 13:50 | ||
| Algeciras | Spain | 612 | 0.15 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | day 10, 14:00 |
More
Every tsunami in 1980The 1900sTsunamis of AlgeriaThe 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 2916.