January 17, 1994 Tsunami: West Coast, USA, United States
A tsunami caused by a magnitude 6.7 earthquake began at West Coast, USA, United States on January 17, 1994 at 12:30:55 UTC. The water rose as high as 0.1 meters. It killed 57 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
- January 17, 1994, 12:30:55 UTC
- Source
- West Coast, USA, United States
- Cause
- Earthquake
- Earthquake
- Magnitude 6.7, 18 km deep
- Maximum water height
- 0.1 m (0.3 ft)
- Runups recorded
- 0
- Tsunami intensity (Soloviev-Imamura)
- -3
- Tsunami magnitude (Iida)
- -3.3
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Probable tsunami
- Source location
- 34.213° N, 118.537° W
The toll
- Deaths
- 57 with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
- Injuries
- 11,846 with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
- Damage
- $40 billion with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
- Houses destroyed
- 40,000 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.
Tsunami may have been generated by 6.8 Ms earthquake in the Northridge area of Southern California.
More
Every tsunami in 1994The 1900sTsunamis of United StatesThe 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 2223.