November 29, 1998 Tsunami: Taliabu Island, Indonesia

Name: November 29, 1998 Tsunami: Taliabu Island, Indonesia
Start: 1998-11-29
Location: Taliabu Island, Indonesia

November 29, 1998 · 2.75 m · 41 deaths · $200 million · 1,000 houses destroyed · Questionable tsunami

A tsunami caused by a magnitude 7.7 earthquake began at Taliabu Island, Indonesia on November 29, 1998 at 14:10:31 UTC. The water rose as high as 2.75 meters. Its effects were recorded at 1 place. It killed 41 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

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: November 29, 1998, 14:10:31 UTC
Source: Taliabu Island, Indonesia
Cause: Earthquake
Earthquake: Magnitude 7.7, 33 km deep
Maximum water height: 2.75 m (9.0 ft)
Runups recorded: 1
Tsunami intensity (Soloviev-Imamura): 1
Waters: Ocean
How certain: Questionable tsunami
Source location: 2.071° S, 124.891° E

The toll

Deaths: 41 with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
Injuries: 107 with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
Damage: Limited (under about $1 million); $200 million with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
Houses destroyed: Some (about 51 to 100); 1,000 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.

1998, November 29. A magnitude 7.7 Ms (Mw 7.7) (USGS) earthquake occurred near Taliabu Island, Indonesia, at 14:11 UT. Gegar Sapta Prasetya in an email to Frank Gonzalez mentioned that the newspaper reported a wave of 2.75 m height that had been observed by eyewitnesses. (reference #1315)

As reported by Indonesia National Contact Ibnu Purwana: "An earthquake of 29 November 1998 occurred at 23:10 local time, (14:10 UTC) originating in Maluku Sea at coordinates 1.97 S - 124.92 E and at focal depth of 33 kms. As a result, 25 people were killed, 8 were missing, and 672 buildings were heavily damaged. The earthquake was of 6.5 surface magnitude (Mb), and was suspected of having a potential to generate local tsunami. The International Tsunami Information Center (ITIC) in Honolulu sent fax to BMG asking for confirmation about the tsunami, but no tsunami was confirmed. This is due to the fact that the earthquake is associated with a strike-slip mechanism of the South Sula - Sorong fault." (reference #2673)

Reference #4659 lists a tsunami having been generated.

Most of the deaths were on the westen part of Mangole, a timber producing island of 38,000 people near the quake's epicentre and 2,010 miles northeast of the Indonesian capital, Jakarta. Mosques, churches and a timber factory were razed and some houses swept into the sea. (Reference #12916)

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
Taliabu Island	Indonesia	30	2.75		Eyewitness observation of water height

Every tsunami in 1998 The 1900s Tsunamis of Indonesia 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 2588.