January 17, 1983 Tsunami: Ionian Sea, Greece

Name: January 17, 1983 Tsunami: Ionian Sea, Greece
Start: 1983-01-17
Location: Ionian Sea, Greece

January 17, 1983 · Probable tsunami

A tsunami caused by a magnitude 7.2 earthquake began at Ionian Sea, Greece on January 17, 1983 at 12:41:29 UTC. Its effects were recorded at 1 place.

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

Tsunami warnings in force

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: January 17, 1983, 12:41:29 UTC
Source: Ionian Sea, Greece
Cause: Earthquake
Earthquake: Magnitude 7.2
Runups recorded: 1
Waters: Ocean
How certain: Probable tsunami
Source location: 38.026° N, 20.228° 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.

1983 January 17, 38.1 N 20.2 E, definite tsunami (reference #11164, v.2)

1983 January 17, Zakynthos islands, Ionian Sea. This was a very strong earthquake but only moderately damaging in Kefalonia Island. No damage was caused in the island of Zakynthos where local people reported that during the earthquake sea retreat for about 0.5m was observed [Eleftheriou and Mouyiaris, 1983]. (reference #13474)

Reference #2591 reports sea withdrawal in Kefallinia (Kefalonia), and attributes this occurrence to an earthquake in the Ionian Sea. [Note: lists 50 cm runup but unclear if this was 50 cm withdrawal as reference #13474 lists]

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
Kefallonia Island, Ionian Islands	Greece	27			Eyewitness observation of water height

Every tsunami in 1983 The 1900s Tsunamis of Greece The earthquake This day in weather history Alerts 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 2917.