Tsunami Event

Date Tsunami Cause Tsunami Source Location Tsunami Parameters
Max
Water
Height		 Num. of
Runups		 Deposits Magnitude Tsu
Int		 Warn Status
Year Mo Dy Hr Mn Sec Val Code Country Name Latitude Longitude Abe Iida
1994 10 4 13 22 55.8 4 1 RUSSIA S. KURIL ISLANDS 43.773 147.321 10.40 113 2 2.30 2.60
tsevent
Tsunami Effects Total Effects (Tsunami and Source)
Deaths Missing Injuries Damage Houses Destroyed Houses Damaged Deaths Missing Injuries Damage Houses Destroyed Houses Damaged
Num De Num De Num De $Mill De Num De Num De Num De Num De Num De $Mill De Num De Num De
11 1 382 3 11700 4
Tsunami Comments

Comments for the Tsunami Event

Display listing of nearby tsunami events

On October 4, 1994, a magnitude 8.1 Ms (Mw 8.3) (HRV) earthquake at 13:23 UT in the southern Kuril Islands, Russia, caused at least eleven fatalities, none due to the tsunami, and 242 injuries mostly due to collapsing of a military hospital on Iturup Island. There were 140 people injured in Japan, including one woman whose car plunged off a collapsed bridge and one man who died of a heart attack. The earthquake generated a tsunami with a height of 4.5-6.0 m at the southern part of Dimitrova Bay, Shikotan Island and 3.0-7.1 meters at Tserkovnaya Bay indicating multiple waves in the tsunami. Evidence of four separate runup heights also indicates a multiple wave attack.

On the west side of the island the height at Malo-kurilskaya was one to two meters. The tide gage indicated a subsidence of 53 cm. Eyewitnesses reported the initial wave to be a rise as was confirmed by the marigrams that also showed periods of about 20 minutes. Elsewhere on the island the heights were measured from 8.5 meters at Tserkovnaya Bay to 2.6 meters. On Kunashiri Island the maximum height was surveyed at 5.3 meters at Petrova Point. On Iturup Island the maximum height was 3.4 meters and on Polonsky Island the maximum height was 4 meters.

At Yuzhno-Kurilsk the heights ranged from 2.5-3.0 meters. In the older part of the town, waves penetrated 200 to 300 meters on the gentle, sloping beach damaging all houses. The wave penetrated 500 meters along the river destroying two bridges and washing away two homes dragging another 300 meters. All moorings were destroyed and two 300-ton fishing boats, five pontoons, and several motorboats were thrown on dry land. None of the fatalities were due to the tsunami as the maximum heights were 1.5-2.0 meters in populated areas. This was fortunate since a warning could not be sent to the area due to the disrupted communications caused by the earthquake.

(above from reference #1315)

Maximum runup height of 10.4 m at the southern part of Dimitrova Bay. (reference #2679)

References for a Tsunami event ID

References for the Tsunami Event

ID Author Year Citation
128 Gusiakov, Viacheslav K. 1995 The Shikotan, Kuril Islands, Earthquake Tsunami, October 4, 1994, Slide Set, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Geophysical Data Center, Boulder, Colorado, USA, 12 p.
239 Lander, James F. 1996 Tsunamis Affecting Alaska 1737-1996, KGRD no. 31, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Geophysical Data Center, Boulder, Colorado, USA, September, 155 p.
439 Tanioka, Yuichiro, Larry Ruff, and Kenji Satake 1995 The Great Kuril earthquake of October 4, 1994 tore the slab, Geophysical Research Letters, vol. 22, no. 13, p. 1661-1664.
487 Yeh, Harry, Vasily Titov, Viacheslav Gusiakov, Efim Pelinovsky, Vasily Khramushin, and Victor Kaistrenko 1995 The 1994 Shikotan earthquake tsunamis. In Tsunamis: 1992-1994, Kenji Satake and Fumihiko Imamura, eds., Pure Appl. Geophys., vol. 144, no. 3-4, p. 855-874. DOI:10.1007/BF00874398
547 Piatanesi, Alessio, Philippe Heinrich and Stefano Tinti 1999 The October 4, 1994 Shikotan (Kurile Islands) Tsunamigenic Earthquake: An Open Problem on the Source Mechanism. In Seismogenic and Tsunamigenic Processes in Shallow Subduction Zones, Jeanne Sauber and Renata Dmowska, eds., Pure Appl. Geophys., vol 154, no. 3-4, p. 555-574. DOI:10.1007/s000240050244
1315 Lander, J. F., L. S. Whiteside, and P. A. Lockridge 2003 Two Decades of Global Tsunamis, 1982-2002, Science of Tsunami Hazards, the International Journal of the Tsunami Society, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA, vol. 21, no. 1, p. 3-82.
2679 International Tsunami Information Center 1995 Tsunami Newsletter, Vol. XXVII, No. 1, January 1995.
3806 Synolakis, C.E. and E.A. Okal 2005 1992-2002: Perspective on a decade of post-tsunami surveys. In Tsunamis: Case Studies and Recent Developments, Kenji Satake, ed., Advances in Natural and Technological Hazards Research, vol. 23, p. 1-29. DOI: 10.1007/1-4020-3331-1_1
4002 Stephenson, Frederick E., and Alexander B. Rabinovich 2009 Tsunamis on the Pacific Coast of Canada Recorded in 1994-2007. In Tsunami Science Four Years After the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, Part II: Observation and Data Analysis, Phil R. Cummins, Laura S.L. Kong, Kenji Satake, eds., Pure Appl. Geophys., vol. 166, no. 1-2, p. 177-210. DOI:10.1007/s00024-008-0440-7