December 14, 1997 Tsunami: Kamchatka, Russia
A tsunami caused by a landslide began at Kamchatka, Russia on December 14, 1997 at 03:30 UTC. The water rose as high as 8 meters. 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
The tsunami
- Date
- December 14, 1997, 03:30 UTC
- Source
- Kamchatka, Russia
- Cause
- Landslide
- Maximum water height
- 8 m (26.2 ft)
- Runups recorded
- 1
- Tsunami intensity (Soloviev-Imamura)
- 2
- Tsunami magnitude (Iida)
- 3
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Probable tsunami
- Source location
- 54.841° N, 162.035° E
The toll
- Damage
- Limited (under about $1 million)
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.
An 8-meter wave was observed at 15:00 to 16:00 UT (3 A.M. to 4 A.M.local time) at the lighthouse on Kronotskiy Cape. The wave destroyed a bridge across a small river 50 meters from the river mouth. A pile of barrels lying on the beach was covered with sand, silt and grass. There was no major earthquake in the area with the largest event about magnitude 5.0 Mb. This tsunami is believed to be due to a submarine landslide as there are several submarine canyons
with steep bottoms around the Cape. The magnitude 7.8 Ms earthquake ten days earlier on December 5 may have made the submarine sediments unstable and a landslide may have been triggered by one of the small aftershocks.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kronotsky, Kamchatka | Russia | 63 | 8 | Eyewitness observation of water height |
More
Every tsunami in 1997The 1900sTsunamis of RussiaThis 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 2278.