March 31, 2007 Tsunami: Yellow Sea, South Korea
A tsunami of meteorological origin began at Yellow Sea, South Korea on March 31, 2007. The water rose as high as 1.65 meters. Its effects were recorded at 2 places. It killed 4 people.
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
- March 31, 2007
- Source
- Yellow Sea, South Korea
- Cause
- Meteorological
- Maximum water height
- 1.65 m (5.4 ft)
- Runups recorded
- 2
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Probable tsunami
The toll
- Deaths
- 4
- Damage
- $2 million
- Houses damaged
- Few (about 1 to 50)
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.
According to Eom et al. (2019), four people were killed, two injured and the total damage cost was $2 million, including flooding of houses, loss of fish farms, a ship overturning and inundation of nuclear plant coolant pumps. The recent studies of Kim et al. (2016, 2017) revealed that the meteotsunami originated in the region of Shandong, eastern China. (reference #12544)
At noon on 4 May 2008, there were many people fishing near the breakwater of the coastal city of Boryeong, western coast of South Korea, when a sudden 1.3‐m high meteotsunami wave approached at the top of the tide and washed 36 people into the sea (Yoo et al., 2010), of which 9 were killed by the wave while 15 suffered serious injuries. The timing of the event was crucial, as a much stronger meteotsunami, with maximum measured wave height of up to 3 m, occurred along the western South Korea coast a year before, 31 March 2007, but between midnight and dawn, causing only damage and no human casualties (M. S. Kim et al., 2019). (reference #14271)
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wido | South Korea | 1.5 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | ||||
| Yeonggwang | South Korea | 1.65 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) |
More
Every tsunami in 2007The 2000sTsunamis of South KoreaThis 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 5729.