June 23, 2020 Tsunami: Off Coast of Oaxaca, Mexico
A tsunami caused by a magnitude 7.4 earthquake began at Off Coast of Oaxaca, Mexico on June 23, 2020 at 15:29:04 UTC. The water rose as high as 1.57 meters. Its effects were recorded at 9 places. It killed 10 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
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
- June 23, 2020, 15:29:04 UTC
- Source
- Off Coast of Oaxaca, Mexico
- Cause
- Earthquake
- Earthquake
- Magnitude 7.4, 26 km deep
- Maximum water height
- 1.57 m (5.2 ft)
- Runups recorded
- 9
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Definite tsunami
- Source location
- 15.886° N, 96.008° W
The toll
- Deaths
- 10 with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
- Injuries
- 24 with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
- Damage
- Extreme (about $25 million or more) with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
- Houses damaged
- 8,123 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.
we found tsunami inundation evidence at four confined coastal sites reaching a maximum runup of 1.5 m. The enclosed morphology of these sites determined higher runup and tsunami inundation [...] According to social media and witnesses’ reports, the sea retreated almost immediately after the earthquake but did not cause extensive inundation and no damage was reported in coastal cities. Witnesses reported sea return but emphasized that it never reached the sea level prior to the earthquake.(reference #12895)
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Huatulco | Mexico | 16 | 0.3 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | |||
| Playa Pescadores | Mexico | 16 | 1.57 | Runup height, post-tsunami survey | |||
| Marina Chahue | Mexico | 18 | 0.95 | Runup height, post-tsunami survey | |||
| Playa Yerbabuena | Mexico | 20 | 0.99 | Runup height, post-tsunami survey | |||
| Playa El Violin | Mexico | 21 | 0.9 | Runup height, post-tsunami survey | |||
| Salina Cruz | Mexico | 92 | 0.68 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | day 23, 16:16 | ||
| Puerto Chiapas | Mexico | 408 | 0.13 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | |||
| Acapulco | Mexico | 429 | 0.68 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | |||
| D43413 Bpr, 360 NM SW Acapulco | Mexico | 697 | 0.01 | Deep ocean gauge (half the maximum wave height) | day 23, 16:27 |
More
Every tsunami in 2020The 2000sTsunamis of MexicoThe 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 2026-10-01. NCEI tsunami event 5751.