October 9, 1995 Tsunami: S. Mexico

Name: October 9, 1995 Tsunami: S. Mexico
Start: 1995-10-09
Location: S. Mexico

October 9, 1995 · 11 m · 50 deaths · Definite tsunami

A tsunami caused by a magnitude 8 earthquake began at S. Mexico on October 9, 1995 at 15:35:53 UTC. The water rose as high as 11 meters. Its effects were recorded at 35 places in at least 7 countries. It killed 50 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

Tsunami warnings in force

The tsunami

Date: October 9, 1995, 15:35:53 UTC
Source: S. Mexico
Cause: Earthquake
Earthquake: Magnitude 8, 33 km deep
Maximum water height: 11 m (36.1 ft)
Runups recorded: 35
Tsunami intensity (Soloviev-Imamura): 2.5
Tsunami magnitude (Iida): 2.3
Waters: Ocean
How certain: Definite tsunami
Source location: 19.055° N, 104.205° W

The toll

Deaths: 1; 50 with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
Injuries: 200 with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
Damage: Limited (under about $1 million); Moderate (about $1 to $5 million) with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
Houses destroyed: Few (about 1 to 50); Some (about 51 to 100) 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.

On October 9, 1995, a magnitude 7.4 Ms (Mw 8) (HRV) earthquake at 1536 UT near the coast of Jalisco, Mexico, caused at least 49 fatalities, injured 100, and left nearly 1,000 people

homeless. The land subsided about 14 cm at Manzanillo. The fault had an angle of 16 degrees and a rupture length of 200 km.

The earthquake generated a tsunami that affected about 200 km of the coast from north of Playa de Cuyatlan to south of Tenacatita. In regions with steep onshore topography, the damage was minor, but on shallow beaches it was severe. Most of the inundation was in the Tenacatita Bay area, and

Port Manzanillo suffered damage from erosion from a 12-knot current.

North of Manzanillo at Barra de Navidad, a small tourist town buffered from the Pacific by a strip of sand about 100-m wide, had damage to hotels, homes, roads and bridges. One fatality due to the tsunami occurred when a fisherman wading close to the shore could not outrun the 5.1 m wave. The runup range was 3.7 to 5.1 meters. Most people were aware of the tsunami hazard and ran to higher

ground, but some returned to coastal areas too soon and were swept out to sea by the second wave.

(reference #1315)

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
Santiago Bay - South	Mexico	11	3.79		Runup height, post-tsunami survey
Manzanillo 2	Mexico	19	3		Runup height, post-tsunami survey
Manzanillo 1	Mexico	20	3.74		Runup height, post-tsunami survey
Cuyutlan	Mexico	21	2.7		Eyewitness observation of water height
Santiago Bay - Vida del Mar Resort	Mexico	21	10.9		Runup height, post-tsunami survey
Majagua	Mexico	22	4.4		Runup height, post-tsunami survey
Paraiso	Mexico	30	1.76		Runup height, post-tsunami survey
Playa DE Oro	Mexico	33	4.08		Runup height, post-tsunami survey
Barra DE Navidad	Mexico	52	5.1	25	Runup height, post-tsunami survey		1
Melaque	Mexico	56	4.5	41	Runup height, post-tsunami survey
Cuastecomate	Mexico	57	4.4	30	Runup height, post-tsunami survey
La Manzanilla	Mexico	66	4	172	Runup height, post-tsunami survey
Boca DE Iguanas	Mexico	69	5.1	30	Runup height, post-tsunami survey
El Tecuan	Mexico	82	3.8	70	Runup height, post-tsunami survey
Careyes	Mexico	98	3.5	115	Runup height, post-tsunami survey
Chamela	Mexico	106	3.2	30	Runup height, post-tsunami survey
San Mateo	Mexico	108	4.9		Runup height, post-tsunami survey
Chamela 2	Mexico	111	4.9	40	Runup height, post-tsunami survey
Perula	Mexico	113	3.4	40	Runup height, post-tsunami survey
Punta Chalacatepec	Mexico	131	2.9	100	Runup height, post-tsunami survey
Puerto Vallarta	Mexico	204			Eyewitness observation of water height
Socorro Island	Mexico	719	0.1		Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height)
Cabo San Lucas	Mexico	728	0.26		Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height)
Baltra Island	Ecuador	2,638	0.04		Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height)
Hiva Oa Island, Marquesas Islands	French Polynesia	4,980	0.5		Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height)
Nuku Hiva Island, Marquesas Islands	French Polynesia	5,008	0.15		Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height)
Hilo, Hawaii, HI, HI	United States	5,321	0.19		Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height)
Kawaihae, Hawaii, HI, HI	United States	5,397	0.06		Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height)
Kahului, Maui, HI, HI	United States	5,451	0.17		Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height)
Nawiliwili, Kauai, HI, HI	United States	5,731	0.06		Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height)
Papeete, Tahiti	French Polynesia	6,403	0.04		Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height)
Pago Pago, American Samoa, AS	US Territories	8,165	0.19		Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height)
Port Vila, Efate Island	Vanuatu	10,393	0.07		Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height)	day 10, 05:54
Mooloolaba	Australia	12,165	0.03		Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height)
Southport	Australia	12,166	0.02		Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height)

Every tsunami in 1995 The 1900s Tsunamis of Mexico 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 2252.