October 17, 1974 Eruption of Ritter Island
Ritter Island in Papua New Guinea erupted on October 17, 1974 with a Volcanic Explosivity Index of 1. It caused a tsunami.
Where it erupted
Ritter Island, Papua New Guinea, with its other significant eruptions.
The eruption
- Date
- October 17, 1974
- Volcano
- Ritter Island, stratovolcano
- Country
- Papua New Guinea
- Volcanic Explosivity Index
- 1, small (eruption column 100 m to 1 km)
- Tsunami
- Yes: the tsunami it caused
- Location
- 5.519° S, 148.115° E
The toll
The record gives no deaths, injuries or damage for this eruption.
What the record says
NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.
Ritter erupted briefly 17 October. The sequence of events was very similar to the October 1972 eruption. An almost continuous series of seismic events was felt on neighboring islands and recorded throughout Papua New Guinea from 0600 to 0650 local time. The eruption and small tsunamis were observed from islands west of Ritter. Minor land-sliding occurred on Ritter Island itself. The island was under observation by a volcanologist from 18 to 21 October, but there were no signs of eruptive activity and no visible traces of recent activity except landslides.
Other significant eruptions of Ritter Island
More
Every eruption in 1974The 1900sRitter IslandEarthquakes near Ritter IslandThis 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 2026-10-01. Volcano numbers are the Smithsonian Institution’s Global Volcanism Program’s. NCEI event 4683.