September 18, 1994 Tsunami: Papua New Guinea
A tsunami caused by a volcano began at Papua New Guinea on September 18, 1994. The water rose as high as 3 meters. Its effects were recorded at 4 places. It killed 4 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
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
- September 18, 1994
- Source
- Papua New Guinea
- Cause
- Volcano
- Volcano
- The eruption that caused it
- Maximum water height
- 3 m (9.8 ft)
- Runups recorded
- 4
- Tsunami magnitude (Iida)
- 1.2
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Definite tsunami
- Source location
- 4.238° S, 152.214° E
The toll
- Deaths
- 4 with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
- Damage
- Limited (under about $1 million); $86 million with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
- Houses destroyed
- 30; Few (about 1 to 50) 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.
Eruptions of Tavurvur and Vulcan Volcanoes near Rabaul, New Britain, caused massive ashfall and pyroclastic flows that resulted in 280 million dollars in damage, mainly caused by mudflows. The pyroclastic flows from Vulcan generated a tsunami in Simpson Harbor. (reference #1315)
Tsunamis penetrated a fair way inland at may points around Simpson Harbour and it was clear that significant damage was done by tsunamis to a number of waterfront properties... More than 30 buildings on Matupit Island were washed away by tsunamis. (reference #44)
At 0615 (LT) on September 19, 1994, [18 Sept 20:15 UTC] Tavurvur volcano broke into eruption, and about one hour later Vulcan volcano began erupting (reference #3809)
Note: reference #10848 lists maximum runup of 8 m based on tsunami deposits from reference #3809
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Matupi Island, New Britain | Papua New Guinea | 3 | 3 | Eyewitness observation of water height | |||
| Rabaul, New Britain | Papua New Guinea | 4 | 200 | Eyewitness observation of water height | |||
| Simpson Harbour, New Britain | Papua New Guinea | 6 | 1.2 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | day 18, 21:43 | ||
| Simpson Harbour, New Britain | Papua New Guinea | 6 | 3 | 200 | Eyewitness observation of water height |
More
Every tsunami in 1994The 1900sTsunamis of Papua New GuineaThe eruptionThis 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 2229.