At 10:14 am local time on October 11th, 1918, a magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck in Mona Passage, west of Puerto Rico. The shock was immediately followed by a tsunami with runup heights reaching 6 meters. Both the earthquake and tsunami caused widespread property damage with estimates beginning at $4 million in damage and more than 100 casualties. The greatest number of fatalities are attributed to the tsunami. NOTE: Images in this collection have been digitally altered in order to fix image damage, eliminate image noise caused by digitization, and recreate pixels to improve image resolution. Images provided courtesy of the University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez, Dept. of Geology, Puerto Rico Seismic Network and edited by Victor Figueroa.

On January 7, 2020, at 08:24:26 UTC, a M 6.5 earthquake occurred offshore of southwest Puerto Rico. Hundreds of homes were destroyed and thousands were damaged. This event generated a small tsunami of centimeters (an inch) that was observed in the tide stations of Magueyes (Parguera) and La Esperanza (Vieques). Southwest Guayanilla Bay dropped 0.2 meters, causing permanent flooding of low areas.

An earthquake estimated between moment magnitude 7.1 and 7.5 occurred off the east coast of Vanuatu on November 26, 1999 at 13:21 UTC. The earthquake generated a damaging tsunami that struck the coast of Vanuatu, where it reached as high as 6.6 meters above sea level and destroyed an entire village.

On April 1, 1946, at 12:29 [local time] a rather strong magnitude 8.6 earthquake occurred with source to the south of Unimak Island, causing one of the most destructive tsunamis in the Pacific Ocean.

According to official estimates, 222,570 people killed, 300,000 injured, 1.3 million displaced, 97,294 houses destroyed and 188,383 damaged in the Port-au-Prince area and in much of southern Haiti. This includes at least 4 people killed by a local tsunami in the Petit Paradis area near Leogane. Uplift was observed along the coast from Leogane to L'Acul and subsidence was observed along the coast from Grand Trou to Port Royal. Felt (VII) at Port-au-Prince and Petionville and (V) at Vieux Bourg d'Aquin and Port-de-Paix. Felt (V) at La Vega, Moca and San Cristobal; (IV) at Puerto Plata, Santiago, Santo Domingo and Sosua, Dominican Republic. Felt throughout Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Felt (III) at Oranjestad, Aruba; (IV) at Santiago de Cuba and (III) at Guantanamo, Cuba; (II) in the Kingston-Mona area, Jamaica; (III) at Cockburn Harbour and (II) at Cockburn Town, Turks and Caicos Islands; (II) at Caracas, Venezuela. Felt in parts of The Bahamas, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands and as far as southern Florida, northern Colombia and northwestern Venezuela.

Two earthquakes occurred in the morning on Hawaii Island. The first earthquake (3 hours 36 minutes local time, 5.1 Ms, epicenter near the Kilauea crater) awakened the entire population of the island. The second earthquake (4 hours 48 minutes local time, 7.2 Ms, off the southeast coast) caused damage (IX) at Hilo and damage (VIII) at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. In many places houses were severely damaged, roads were breached and became unusable due to landslides; electric power lines were broken. Maximum subsidence 3.5 meters along the southeast coast. Maximum width of ground cracks 1 meter in the park. There was a brief eruption of the Kilauea Volcano. The second earthquake generated a locally damaging submarine landslide tsunami that was recorded at tide gauge stations in Alaska, California, Galapagos Islands, Peru, and Chile.

La Soufriere is a stratovolcano with a summit dome, on the southern part of Guadeloupe Island. It has erupted explosively about ten times since 1400.

At least 116 people killed, more than 68 missing and over 13,500 left homeless in Nicaragua. At least 1,300 houses and 185 fishing boats were destroyed along the west coast of Nicaragua.

On August 16, 1976, at 16:11:07 UTC, a magnitude (Mw) 8.0 earthquake shook Mindanao Island in the Philippines. It caused a destructive tsunami in the Celebes Sea that devastated settlements along the coast of Moro Gulf on Mindanao Island, Zamboanga Peninsula and Sulu Islands. As a result of the earthquake and tsunami 4,000 to 8,000 persons were killed or missing, 10,000 were injured, and 90,000 were left homeless. 85% of the casualties may be attributed to the tsunami.

At least 2,183 people killed, thousands injured, about 9,500 homeless and about 500 missing as a result of a tsunami generated in the Sissano area. Maximum wave heights estimated at 15 meters. Several villages were completely destroyed and others extensively damaged. Maximum recorded wave heights from selected tide stations (peak-to-trough, in cm) were as follows: 40 on Miyake-jima; 30 at Tosa-Shimuzu, Shikoku; 26 at Muroto, Shikoku; 24 at Naze, Amami O-shima; 20 on Tanega-shima; 20 at Kushimoto, Honshu; 6 at Jackson Bay and 4.7 at Kaikoura, New Zealand; 5 on Yap. Felt along much of the northern Papua New Guinea coast.