More than eighty tsunamis have been observed or recorded in California in historic times. Fortunately, almost all of these were small and did little or no damage. Though damaging tsunamis have occurred infrequently in California, they are a possibility that must be considered in coastal communities. There are two sources for California tsunamis, based on distance and warning time:
Local sources - Local tsunami sources, like large offshore faults and massive submarine landslides, can put adjacent coastal communities at the greatest risk of a tsunami because the public must respond quickly with little or no official guidance. The Cascadia Subduction Zone is an example of a local tsunami source that could threaten northern California. Stretching from Cape Mendocino, California, to Vancouver Island, British Columbia, this 700-mile long submarine fault system forms the crustal plate boundary where the offshore Gorda and Juan de Fuca plates dive, or subduct, beneath the North American plate. Examples of local tsunamis that have impacted California include:
January 26, 1700 - An earthquake estimated at a magnitude 9 ruptured the entire length of the Cascadia Subduction Zone, likely causing a 50-foot tsunami in parts of northern California. Though there were no local written accounts, scientists have reconstructed the event based on geologic evidence and oral histories from the Native American people in the area, and determined the exact date and time from Japanese documents that describe the effects of a large tsunami that hit the coast of Japan later that same day.
December 21, 1812 – A tsunami struck the Santa Barbara and Ventura coastline shortly after a large earthquake was felt in the area. Though reports of the size of this tsunami have been debated, the event was large enough to inundate lowland areas and cause damage to nearby ships. One theory is that the tsunami was caused by a nearby submarine landslide triggered by the earthquake.
Distant sources - A tsunami caused by a very large earthquake elsewhere on the Pacific Rim could reach the California coast many (4 to 15) hours after the earthquake. The Alaska-Aleutians Subduction Zone is an example of a distant source that has caused destructive tsunamis in California. Notable distant tsunamis that have impacted California include:
April 1, 1946 – A magnitude 8.8 earthquake in the Aleutian Islands generated a tsunami that caused damage along the coast of California, including flooding over 1000-feet inland in Half Moon Bay.
March 28, 1964 – Twelve people were killed in California when a tsunami was generated by a magnitude 9.2 earthquake off the coast of Alaska. A surge approximately 20-feet high flooded 29 city blocks of Crescent City.
March 11, 2011 – A magnitude 9.0 earthquake in the Tohoku region of Japan produced a moderate amplitude tsunami in California. Although it did not generate significant flooding in California, strong tsunami currents caused one death and over $100-million in damages to 27 harbors statewide, with the most significant damage occurring in Crescent City and Santa Cruz. Read more about it at
our Tohoku-oki tsunami page.
The table in the next section contains information on some additional tsunamis in California from 1812 to 2012.
