CATALOG OF TSUNAMIS
IN THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
George Pararas-Carayannis
Excerpts
from the "Catalog of Tsunamis in the Hawaiian Islands"
and other publications
A Brief History of Tsunamis in Hawaii
A detailled catalog
of all tsunamis recorded or observed in the Hawaiian Islands
was prepared in 1967 and published as a report of the Hawai Institute
of Geophysics of the University of Hawaii. This report was updated
in 1974 and published as a World Data Center A-Tsunami report.
In these early catalogs
all the available information was compiled from historical accounts
at the Bishop Museum, missionary letters, newspaper archives,
other reports, and mareographic data. Most of the earthquake
data was extracted from the Preliminary Catalog of Tsunamis Occurring
in the Paclfic Ocean" by Iida, Cox, and Pararas-Carayannis
and from Coast and Geodetic Survey records. Most of the events
listed are associated with earthquakea, but some are associated
with volcanic activity. Others, which do not show an association
with earthquakes near the places of observation, may have been
tsunamis of distant seismic origin for which there is no record.
Numerous damaging
or destructive tsunamis have affected Hawaii, originating either
from local sources or from distant earthquakes. The Hawaiian
Islands have a long history of destruction due to tsunamis and
are particularly vulnerable to tsunamis originating in the north
and the southeast Pacific Ocean. The earliest recording of a
tsunami goes back to April 11, 1819 when a wave from Chile reached
a height of 2 m somewhere along the west coast of the Island
of Hawaii. The same wave was also observed in Honolulu but it
is poorly documented. Prior to 1813 a number of tsunamis probably
reached the Islands but unfortunately the ancient Hawaiians kept
no records. From 1813 to 1974 eighty-five tsunamis have been
observed ln the Hawaiian Islands; fifteen of these have resulted
in significant damage. A major local event occured in 1975. Since
1975 a number of small tsunamis have been recorded or observed,
none of which resulted in loss of life or extensive damage to
property.
Most of the destructive
tsunamis in the Hawaiian Islands have been generated along the
coast of South America, the Aleutian Islands, the Kamchatka Peninsula,
and Japan. More than one-half of all the tsunamis recorded in
Hawaii have originated in the Kuril-Kamchatka-Aleutian regions
of the north and northwestern Pacific, and approximately one-fourth
along the coast of South Amerlca. Some tsunamis have been generated
in the Philippines, the New Hebrides, and the Tonga-Kermadec
arcs. Although the earthquake-occurrence frequency is quite high
in such areas, teunamis are usually infrequent and those generated
have not been very destructive in Hawaii.
Although they may be destructtve
in the immediate area of generation, tsunamis generated in the
seas adjacent to the Pacific Ocean, such as the Philippine Sulu,
Celebes, Molucca, Java, and South China seas, do not affect the
Hawailan Islands because most of their energy is trapped by the
many ialands.
Damage at Hilo from
1960 Chilean tsunami
The record shows that
damaging tsunamis from distant earthquakes reached Hawaii these
years: 1837, 1841, 1868, 1869, 1877, 1883, 1906, 1918, 1923,
1933, 1946, 1957, and 1960. Other smaller tsunamis that caused
no significant damage in Hawaii were generated by distant earthquakes
in 1896, 1901, 1906, 1919, 1922, 1923, two in 1927, 1928, 1929,
1931, 1938, 1944, 1952, and 1964. In a period of 157 years, a
damaging or destructive tsunami struck the Hawaiian Islands on
the average of once in every twelve years. Since 1960 no major
destructive tsunami has struck the islands from distant earthquakes.
The 1964 Alaskan tsunami resulted in relatively minor damage
in Hawaii.
The number of locally
generated tsunamis is very small. Over the last one hundred years
there have been only six tsunamis generated near the Hawaiian
chain and of those only three were extremely destructive to property
and human life. Large, locally generated, destructive tsunamis
occurred in 1868, 1872, and 1975. Only a few of the local earthquakes
have been large enough to generate destructive tsunamis resulting
in losses of lives. Of the locally generated events the tsunami
of April 2, 1868 was reported to have a run up of about 20 m
(the higheet wave ever recorded in the Islands) along the South
Puna coast of the Island of Hawail. The earthquake that generated
it had a magnitude of 7.8 . The effects of this tsunami to the
other Hawaiian Islands were insignificant.
The most recent locally
generated destructive tsunami occurred on November 29, 1975 from
an earthquake of magnituded 7.2. in the Puna area of the island
of Hawaii (see link below)
REFERENCES
Pararas-Carayannis,
George. Catalog of
Tsunamis in the Hawaiian Islands. Data Report Hawaii Inst.Geophys. Jan. 1968
Pararas-Carayannis,
George. Catalog of
Tsunamis in the Hawaiian Islands. World Data Center A- Tsunami U.S. Dept. of
Commerce Environmental Science Service Administration Coast and
Geodetic Survey, May 1969.
Pararas-Carayannis,
George. Tsunami Study
for the Hawaiian Islands,
Proposal for a Regional Warning System, ITIC report. Dec. 1975.
Pararas-Carayannis,
George. The Earthquake
and Tsunami of 29 November 1975 in the Hawaiian Islands, ITIC Report, 1976.
Pararas-Carayannis,
George and Calebaugh P.J., Catalog
of Tsunamis in Hawaii, Revised and Updated , World Data Center A for Solid Earth Geophysics,
NOAA, 78 p., March 1977.
Pararas-Carayannis,
George. International
Tsunami Information Center A Progress Report For 1974-1976. International Coordination
Group for the Tsunami Warning System in the Pacific, Vina Del
Mar, Chile, 1977.
Pararas-Carayannis,
George. There Is
A Tsunami In Your Future.
Hawaii Fishing News, Vol. 9, No. 1, pp.10, Feb. 1984.
Iida, K., D.C. Cox,
and Pararas--Carayannis, George. Preliminary Catalog of Tsunamis Occurring in
the Pacific Ocean.
Data Report No. 5. Honolulu: Hawaii Inst.Geophys.Aug. 1967
Major Tsunamis in the
Hawaiian Islands in the last half of the 20th Century
The following are
tsunamis in the last sixty years which were particularly destructive
in Hawaii:
The 1946
Aleutian Tsunami
The 1952
Kamchatka Tsunami
The 1957
Aleutian Tsunami
The 1964
Alaskan Tsunami
The 1975
Hawaiian Tsunami
See also:
Brief
History of Hawaii
THE
EARTHQUAKE AND TSUNAMI OF 29 NOVEMBER 1975 IN THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
INSTABILITY
OF KILAUEA VOLCANO'S SOUTHERN FLANK - EVALUATION OF MASS EDIFICE
FAILURES, FLANK COLLAPSES AND POTENTIAL TSUNAMI GENERATION
EVALUATION
OF THE THREAT OF MEGA TSUNAMI GENERATION FROM POSTULATED MASSIVE
SLOPE FAILURES OF ISLAND STRATOVOLCANOES ON LA PALMA, CANARY
ISLANDS, AND ON THE ISLAND OF HAWAII
The
Effects of the March 27, 1964 Alaska Tsunami In the Hawaiian
Islands