Tsunamis in 2025

May 2, 2025 Tsunami: Southern Chile

May 2, 2025 · 0.14 m · Definite tsunami

A tsunami caused by a magnitude 7.4 earthquake began at Southern Chile on May 2, 2025 at 12:58:26 UTC. The water rose as high as 0.14 meters. Its effects were recorded at 3 places in at least 2 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
May 2, 2025, 12:58:26 UTC
Source
Southern Chile
Cause
Earthquake
Maximum water height
0.14 m (0.5 ft)
Runups recorded
3
Warning
Regional Tsunami Warning issued by PTWC for areas without a warning system
Waters
Ocean
How certain
Definite tsunami
Source location
56.782° S, 68.209° W

The toll

The record gives no deaths, injuries or damage for this tsunami.

Every runup

Nearest the source first. Heights are above sea level at the time; a tide gauge reads half the wave’s full height.

WhereCountryKm from sourceWater height, mInland, mMeasured byFirst wave, UTCDeaths
Puerto WilliamsChile2090.03Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height)
Prat Base (Chile)Antarctica7960.03Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height)
Vernadsky Faraday, Argentine IslAntarctica9670.14Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height)

More

Every tsunami in 2025The 2000sTsunamis of ChileThe 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 6024.