October 6, 1907 Eruption of Savaii
Savaii in Samoa erupted on October 6, 1907. It caused a tsunami.
Where it erupted
Savaii, Samoa, with its other significant eruptions.
The eruption
- Date
- October 6, 1907
- Volcano
- Savaii, shield volcano
- Country
- Samoa
- Tsunami
- Yes: the tsunami it caused
- Location
- 13.612° S, 172.525° W
The toll
- Damage
- Severe (about $5 to $25 million)
- Houses destroyed
- Many (101 to 1,000)
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.
1907, October 6. The Matavanu volcano on Savai'i Island began erupting on August 4, 1905. The flows occasionally generated small tsunamis in Western Samoa by avalanching material into the sea on the following dates: November 28, 1906; June 8, 19, 27, 2006; July 9, 25, 1907. According to Anderson (1910), the largest and most important tsunami that was caused by the Matavanu volcano eruption occurred on October 6, 1907, at about 5:30 P.M. local time (Reference #236).
Other significant eruptions of Savaii
More
Every eruption in 1907The 1900sSavaiiEarthquakes near SavaiiThis day in weather history
Sources
Volcanoes and significant eruptions 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. Volcano numbers are the Smithsonian Institution’s Global Volcanism Program’s. NCEI event 4984.