April 21, 1997 Tsunami: Santa Cruz Is. Vanuatu, Solomon Islands

Name: April 21, 1997 Tsunami: Santa Cruz Is. Vanuatu, Solomon Islands
Start: 1997-04-21
Location: Santa Cruz Is. Vanuatu, Solomon Islands

April 21, 1997 · 3 m · 7 houses destroyed · Definite tsunami

A tsunami caused by a magnitude 7.7 earthquake began at Santa Cruz Is. Vanuatu, Solomon Islands on April 21, 1997 at 12:02:26 UTC. The water rose as high as 3 meters. Its effects were recorded at 41 places in at least 7 countries.

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

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: April 21, 1997, 12:02:26 UTC
Source: Santa Cruz Is. Vanuatu, Solomon Islands
Cause: Earthquake
Earthquake: Magnitude 7.7, 33 km deep
Maximum water height: 3 m (9.8 ft)
Runups recorded: 41
Tsunami intensity (Soloviev-Imamura): -2
Tsunami magnitude (Iida): -2.3
Waters: Ocean
How certain: Definite tsunami
Source location: 12.584° S, 166.676° E

The toll

Damage: Limited (under about $1 million)
Houses destroyed: 7

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.

The earthquake was followed by a tsunami recorded on a few regional gages with heights of one meter or less. It washed away seven houses and destroyed three others. There were no injuries or fataltieis reported. The tsunami inundated about 7 to 15 meters destroying some concrete buildings. The tower of the automatic weather station at Linua was bent by the waves and was left standing at angle. Many fish were washed ashore. (reference #1315)

Local tsunami generated with wave heights up to 3 meters along the coasts of the Solomon and Vanuatu Islands, causing damage to some houses.

(reference #1053)

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
Hiu Island	Vanuatu	63	3		Eyewitness observation of water height
Linua	Vanuatu	82		15	Eyewitness observation of water height
Port Vila, Efate Island	Vanuatu	598	0.2		Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height)
Nauru	Nauru	1,333			Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height)
Suva, King'S Wharf	Fiji	1,402	0.1		Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height)
Funafuti	Tuvalu	1,442	0.1		Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height)
Tweed Head Is.	Australia	2,200			Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height)
Lord Howe I.	Australia	2,237			Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height)
Crowdy Head Is.	Australia	2,565			Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height)
Chichijima Island	Japan	5,125	0.15		Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height)
Miyake Island	Japan	5,911	0.09		Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height)
Mera	Japan	5,973	0.09		Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height)
Okada	Japan	5,983	0.12		Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height)
Minami-Izu	Japan	5,993	0.06		Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height)
Choshi	Japan	6,000	0.04		Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height)
Naha	Japan	6,022	0.06		Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height)
Omaezaki	Japan	6,027	0.06		Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height)
Uchiura	Japan	6,030	0.05		Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height)
Naze	Japan	6,047	0.14		Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height)
Kushimoto	Japan	6,059	0.07		Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height)
Uragami	Japan	6,060	0.05		Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height)
Owase	Japan	6,090	0.07		Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height)
Toba	Japan	6,091	0.07		Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height)
Shirahama	Japan	6,101	0.07		Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height)
Onahama	Japan	6,110	0.07		Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height)
Tanegashima	Japan	6,127	0.15		Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height)
Murotomisaki	Japan	6,136	0.08		Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height)
Ishigakiko	Japan	6,167	0.06		Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height)
Aburatsu	Japan	6,168	0.09		Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height)
Tosa-Shimizu	Japan	6,169	0.16		Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height)
Ayukawa	Japan	6,213	0.08		Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height)
Makurazaki	Japan	6,216	0.1		Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height)
Ofunato	Japan	6,272	0.06		Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height)
Yonaguni	Japan	6,274	0.04		Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height)
Miyako	Japan	6,323	0.05		Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height)
Hachinohe	Japan	6,427	0.08		Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height)
Mutsuogawara	Japan	6,471	0.04		Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height)
Hanasaki	Japan	6,548	0.08		Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height)
Kushiro	Japan	6,559	0.07		Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height)
Hakodate	Japan	6,575	0.04		Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height)
Solomon Islands	Solomon Islands		3		Eyewitness observation of water height

Every tsunami in 1997 The 1900s Tsunamis of Solomon Islands 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 2026-10-01. NCEI tsunami event 2273.