Tsunamis of Papua New Guinea

82 events with their source in Papua New Guinea

Every tsunami NOAA records that began in or off Papua New Guinea, oldest to newest.

Papua New Guinea’s tsunamis on the map

At the source, colored by the highest water recorded. A ring is an event NCEI rates doubtful or questionable.

Under 1 m
1 to 3 m
3 to 10 m
10 to 30 m
30 m and more
Height not recorded

The record

Events: 82
Probable or definite: 60
Deaths counted: 4,218

The deadliest

1660, Long Island, Papua New Guinea2,000 deaths
July 17, 1998, Papua New Guinea15.03 m · M7 · 1,636 deaths · 93 runups
May 29, 1937, Rabaul, Papua New Guinea2.5 m · 507 deaths · 4 runups
December 23, 1930, Bismarck Sea, Papua New Guinea12 m · M6.5 · 27 deaths · 104 houses destroyed · 29 runups
October 31, 1970, Papua New Guinea3 m · M7.3 · 18 deaths · $1.8 million · 800 houses destroyed · 3 runups
January 30, 1939, Solomon Sea, Papua New GuineaM7.7 · 5 deaths · 3 runups
January 13, 1941, Bismarck Sea, Papua New Guinea0.15 m · M7.4 · 4 deaths · 1 house destroyed · 3 runups
September 18, 1994, Papua New Guinea3 m · 4 deaths · $86 million · 4 runups
September 8, 2002, Bismarck Sea, Papua New Guinea5.5 m · M7.6 · 4 deaths · 88 runups
July 14, 1971, Solomon Sea, Papua New Guinea6 m · M7.9 · 3 deaths · $250,000 · 33 runups
February 8, 1987, Solomon Sea, Papua New Guinea1.5 m · M7.4 · 3 deaths · $2.6 million · 1 runup
January 22, 2017, Bougainville Island, Papua New Guinea0.04 m · M7.9 · 3 deaths · 1 runup
November 16, 2000, Bismarck Sea, Papua New Guinea3 m · M8 · 2 deaths · 10 runups
February 4, 1878, Bismarck Sea, Papua New Guinea1 death · 2 runups
April 20, 1999, Kasu Cone, Papua New Guinea15 m · 1 death · 2 houses destroyed

Every event

Newest first.

By country

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.