February 11, 2004 Tsunami: Dead Sea, Jordan
A tsunami caused by a magnitude 5.3 earthquake began at Dead Sea, Jordan on February 11, 2004 at 08:15:03 UTC. The water rose as high as 1 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
- February 11, 2004, 08:15:03 UTC
- Source
- Dead Sea, Jordan
- Cause
- Earthquake
- Earthquake
- Magnitude 5.3, 27 km deep
- Maximum water height
- 1 m (3.3 ft)
- Runups recorded
- 1
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Definite tsunami
- Source location
- 31.675° N, 35.551° E
The toll
- Injuries
- 4 with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
- Damage
- Moderate (about $1 to $5 million) with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
- Houses damaged
- 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.
Locals at the Qalya coast reported a wave (a run-up?)of up to a meter high and a rough sea in the northern part of the Dead Sea soon after the earthquake. A photograph taken half an hour after the earthquake shows a wavy sea near the Qalya shore and also an unusual line in the sea that may have formed just after the earthquake. Residents at En Gedi, however, did not notice any unusual wave in the sea. In the afternoon of that day and the day after, we
noticed some water ponds, located a few meters inland
along the Qalya and the Darga coasts. In a few places along these coasts, we observed some pebbles lying on top of the washed soft rocks that form from the sea shore. Since the sea was nearly flat in the morning and the afternoon of that day, we may presume that the ponds and the pebbles were emplaced by the run-up wave of the tsunami. (reference #5317)
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qalya | Israel | 11 | 1 | Eyewitness observation of water height |
More
Every tsunami in 2004The 2000sTsunamis of JordanThe 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 4562.