March 25, 1990 Tsunami: Costa Rica
A tsunami caused by a magnitude 7.3 earthquake began at Costa Rica on March 25, 1990 at 13:22:57 UTC. The water rose as high as 1 meters. Its effects were recorded at 4 places.
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
- March 25, 1990, 13:22:57 UTC
- Source
- Costa Rica
- Cause
- Earthquake
- Earthquake
- Magnitude 7.3, 20 km deep
- Maximum water height
- 1 m (3.3 ft)
- Runups recorded
- 4
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Definite tsunami
- Source location
- 9.907° N, 84.753° W
The toll
- Injuries
- 15 with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
- Damage
- Moderate (about $1 to $5 million) with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
- Houses destroyed
- 8 with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
- Houses damaged
- 34 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.
March 25, 1990. A 6.4 Ms (USGS) earthquake at 13:16 UT was followed by a second earthquake of Ms 7.0 (USGS) at 13:23 UT that was felt throughout Costa Rica, injured ten people slightly, and damaged about sixty buildings. Several landslides blocked roads for some time. A small seismic sea wave was reported from Quepos to Tambor. It was recorded with an amplitude of 30 cm at Quepos and was also recorded at Tampor. A rise of one meter was observed at Puntarenas. The earthquake and wave occurred at low tide. (reference #1315)
Eyewitnesses suddenly reported an ascent of the level of the sea in Puntarenas, of approximately 1 meter, presumably associated to the arrival of the crest of the wave tidal wave to this port. (reference #273)
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mata DE Limon | Costa Rica | 5 | Eyewitness observation of water height | ||||
| Puntarenas | Costa Rica | 11 | 1 | Eyewitness observation of water height | |||
| Pochote | Costa Rica | 32 | Eyewitness observation of water height | ||||
| Quepos | Costa Rica | 83 | 0.15 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | day 25, 13:36 |
More
Every tsunami in 1990The 1900sTsunamis of Costa RicaThe 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 2192.