August 4, 1928 Eruption of Paluweh

Name: August 4, 1928 Eruption of Paluweh
Start: 1928-08-04
Location: Paluweh, Indonesia

August 4, 1928 · VEI 3 · 226 deaths

Paluweh in Indonesia erupted on August 4, 1928 with a Volcanic Explosivity Index of 3. The eruption killed 226 people, counting its secondary effects. It caused a tsunami.

Where it erupted

Paluweh, Indonesia, with its other significant eruptions.

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The eruption

Date: August 4, 1928
Volcano: Paluweh, stratovolcano
Country: Indonesia
Volcanic Explosivity Index: 3, moderate to large (eruption column 3 to 15 km)
Killed by: Waves or tsunami; Tephra (ash, bombs, lapilli, steam blasts)
Tsunami: Yes: the tsunami it caused
Location: 8.320° S, 121.708° E

The toll

Deaths: 98; 226 with the tsunamis, mudflows and other effects it caused
Injuries: 200 with the tsunamis, mudflows and other effects it caused
Damage: Limited (under about $1 million); Moderate (about $1 to $5 million) with the tsunamis, mudflows and other effects it caused
Houses destroyed: Some (about 51 to 100) with the tsunamis, mudflows and other effects it caused

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.

Reference #1412:

Tsunami generated by a large landslide at two places on S and E coast of island during explosive eruption during night of Aug 4-5 killed 128 out of total 226 who perished. Latter says tsunami, consisting of 3 waves of 5-10 m in height, killed at least 160 people. 200 injured and 5 villages totally destroyed. Iida (1967), Gutenberg and Richter (1954), and Heck (1947) give date as Aug 7, 1927.

Other significant eruptions of Paluweh

Every eruption in 1928 The 1900s Paluweh Earthquakes near Paluweh This 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 394.