Japan ToolSurviving A Tsunami—Lessons from Chile, Hawaii, and Japan
U.S. Geological Survey
Circular 1187
Version 1.1
Surviving a Tsunami—Lessons from Chile, Hawaii, and Japan
Compiled by Brian F. Atwater, Marco Cisternas V.1, Joanne Bourgeois2, Walter C. Dudley3, James W. Hendley II, and Peter H.Stauffer
1999; Reprinted 2001; revised and reprinted 2005
Prepared in cooperation with Universidad Austral de Chile, the University of Tokyo, the University of Washington, the Geological Survey of Japan, and the Pacific Tsunami Museum
1Centro EULA-Chile, Universidad de Concepci&n, Casilla 160-C, Concepci&n, Chile.
2Dept. of Geological Sciences, Box 351310, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195.
3Pacific Tsunami Museum, P.O. Box 806, Hilo, HI 96721.
Seen safely from high ground, a wave of the 1960 Chilean tsunami pours into Onagawa, Japan.
Actions that saved lives, and actions that cost lives, as recounted by eyewitnesses
to the tsunami from the largest earthquake ever measured—the magnitude 9.5
earthquake in Chile on May 22, 1960.
In interviews several decades later, people in Chile, Hawaii, and Japan recall the tsunami
Their accounts contain lessons on tsunami survival:
Aftermath of the 1960
Chilean tsunami in Hilo, Hawaii,
where the tsunami caused 61 deaths.
Introduction
This report contains true stories that illustrate how to survive-and how not to
survive-a tsunami. It is meant for people who live, work, or play along coasts that
tsunamis may strike. Such coasts surround most of the Pacific Ocean but also include
other areas, such as the shores of the Caribbean, eastern Canada, and the Mediterranean.
Although many people call tsunamis “tidal waves,” they are not related to tides but
are rather a series of waves, or “wave trains,” usually caused by earthquakes. Tsunamis
have also been caused by the eruption of some coastal and island volcanoes, submarine
landslides, and oceanic impacts of large meteorites. Tsunami waves can become more
than 30 feet high as they come into shore and can rush miles inland across low-lying
areas.
The stories in this book were selected from interviews with people who survived
a Pacific Ocean tsunami in 1960. Many of these people, including the nurse at right,
contended with the waves near their source, along the coast of Chile. Others faced
the tsunami many hours later in Hawaii and Japan. Most of the interviews were done
decades later in the ;s and ;s.
The stories provide a mixed bag of lessons about tsunami survival. Some illustrate
actions that reliably saved lives-heeding natural warnings, abandoning belongings, and
going promptly to high ground and staying there until the tsunami is really over. Others
describe taking refuge in buildings or trees or floating on debris-tactics that had mixed
results and can be recommended only as desperate acts.
Palmira Estrada, a nurse who survived the 1960 tsunami in Maull&n, Chile, talks with
interviewer Marco Cisternas in 1989. Behind them stands a hospital that was evacuated
during the tsunami. The waters of the tsunami washed against the building.
The 1960 Tsunami and the Earthquake in Chile That Caused It
Most of the events described in this book were caused by a series of waves widely
known as the &# Chilean tsunami.” The tsunami was a result of the largest earthquake
ever measured (magnitude 9.5). This quake occurred along the coast of Chile on
May 22, 1960.
In Chile, the earthquake and the tsunami that followed took more than 2,000 lives
and caused property damage estimated at $550 million (1960 dollars). From Chile the
tsunami radiated outward, killing 61 people in Hawaii and 122 in Japan.
The 1960 Chile earthquake ruptured a fault zone along which a slab of sea floor is
descending, or “subducting,” beneath the adjacent South American Continent. Such
“subduction zones” are formed where two of the tectonic plates that make up the Earth’s
outer shell meet. Earthquakes occur when the fault ruptures, suddenly releasing built-up
energy. During the 1960 Chile earthquake, the western margin of the South American
Plate lurched as much as 60 feet relative to the subducting Nazca Plate, in an area 600
miles long and more than 100 miles wide.
The 1960 Chilean tsunami radiated outward
from a subduction zone along the coast of
Chile. Its waves reached Hawaii in 15 hours
and Japan in 22 hours.
TSUNAMI-A SERIES OF WAVES, OR “WAVE TRAINS,” USUALLY TRIGGERED BY AN EARTHQUAKE
Vertical Slice Through a Subduction Zone
One of the many tectonic plates that make up
Earth’s outer shell descends, or “subducts,” under
an adjacent plate. This kind of boundary between
plates is called a “subduction zone.” When the
plates move suddenly in an area where they are
usually stuck, an earthquake happens.
A. Between Earthquakes
Stuck to the subducting plate, the overriding plate
gets squeezed. Its leading edge is dragged down,
while an area behind bulges upward. This
movement goes on for decades or centuries,
slowly building up stress.
B. During an Earthquake
An earthquake along a subduction zone happens
when the leading edge of the overriding plate
breaks free and springs seaward, raising the sea
floor and the water above it. This uplift starts a
tsunami. Meanwhile, the bulge behind the leading
edge collapses, thinning the plate and lowering
coastal areas.
C. Minutes Later
Part of the tsunami races toward nearby land,
growing taller as it comes in to shore. Another
part heads across the ocean toward distant
shores.
Similar Tsunamis, Similar Strategies for Survival
Some areas around the margin of the Pacific Ocean are located near subduction zones
similar to the one that produced the 1960 Chile earthquake and its tsunami. One of these
areas is Cascadia-southern British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, and northern California.
Recently, it has been discovered that the Cascadia Subduction Zone, like the subduction
zone off Chile, has a history of producing earthquakes that triggered tsunamis. The
most recent of these earthquakes, in 1700, set off a tsunami that struck Japan with waves
about as big as those of the 1960 Chilean tsunami in Japan. However, modern Cascadia
has had little experience with tsunamis and almost no experience with tsunamis generated
close to home. Because of this, people in Cascadia need to look elsewhere for
guidance about tsunami survival.
Perhaps the most basic guidance for people in Cascadia comes from the account on
the following page. Many people in Cascadia may think that “The Big One”-an
earthquake of magnitude 9-will kill them before its tsunami rolls in. So, why bother to
prepare for such a tsunami? In the account, all the people in and near the town of
Maull&n, Chile, survived the biggest earthquake ever measured. The deaths in the area
came later, during the tsunami that followed the quake.
Both the 1960 Chile earthquake and the 1700 Cascadia earthquake were caused by sudden
ruptures of long segments of subduction zones. Each of these quakes generated a tsunami that
not only struck nearby coastal areas but also caused damage in coastal areas as far away as Japan.
As shown by wave heights observed in Japan, subduction-zone
earthquakes in Chile and Cascadia have caused tsunamis that were large
even after crossing the Pacific Ocean.
Long times between earthquakes can erase memories of how to survive their tsunamis.
The region of the 1960 Chile earthquake had gone without such a quake since 1837.
Except for Native American legends, memory of the 1700 Cascadia earthquake is limited
to written records of its tsunami in Japan.
Many Will Survive the Earthquake
In coastal areas, the largest subduction zone earthquake may kill fewer people than the tsunami that follows.
Jos& Argomedo survived the 1960 Chile
earthquake, which he initially mistook for
nuclear war. Mr. Argomedo was 22 years
old and living on a farm outside Maull&n,
Chile, where he got news of the world from
his radio. Early in May 1960, the big news
was the tension between the United States and
the Soviet Union-a Soviet missile had
downed an American spy plane.
On May 18, the Soviet leader, Nikita
Khruschev, suggested treating the United
States like a cat that had stolen cream.
“Wouldn’t it be better,” he said, “to take the
American aggressors by the scruff of the
neck also and give them a little shaking?”
A few days later, on the afternoon of
May 22, while out riding his horse, Mr.
Argomedo felt more than a little shaking.
As the ground beneath him shook hard for
several minutes, he was forced to get off his
horse. Mr. Argomedo thought the Cold War
had turned hot. However, like everyone else
in the area of Maull&n, Quenuir, and La
Pasada, he was actually
living through a magnitude 9.5 earthquake,
the largest ever measured.
Mr. Argomedo was on high ground
during the hours that followed the earthquake.
However, many other residents of
the area were not, and 122 were killed by
the ensuing tsunami.
Many houses in Maull&n, Chile, withstood the
magnitude 9.5 Chile earthquake of May 22, 1960.
The tsunami generated by the quake caused
most of the damage shown in this photo, taken
between May 23 and June 3, 1960.
Heed Natural Warnings
An earthquake may serve as a warning that a tsunami is coming, and so may a rapid fall or rise in coastal waters.
On Sunday, May 22, 1960, Jovita
Riquelme took her 5-year-old daughter to
Mass in Queule, Chile ().
During Mass, the priest talked about
earthquakes. A swarm of quakes as large
as magnitude 8 had occurred 100 miles to
the north the previous day.
Later that Sunday, the magnitude 9.5
mainshock of the 1960 Chile earthquake
rocked the region. After the shaking
ended, many people from Queule decided
to head to nearby hills. From their stories
it is not known why they chose to do this,
but their only known warning was the
minutes of shaking or, perhaps, changes
in the level of the R&o Queule or the
nearby Pacific Ocean.
Heeding natural warnings by going to
high ground probably saved hundreds of
lives in Queule. However, Mrs.
Riquelme’s family remained at their
house on low ground near the R&o
Queule. The tsunami that followed the
earthquake caught the Riquelme family
there. During the confusion caused by the
waves, Mrs. Riquelme lost her daughter,
and her husband was badly injured. Her
husband died of his injuries, and the body
of her daughter was found 3 days after the
tsunami.
Not far from Queule, Vitalia
Llanquim&n lived outside the village of
Mehu&n. Soon after the earthquake
shaking stopped, a man on horseback told
her that the sea had receded from shore.
At first, Mrs. Llanquim&n was not
alarmed by this news, but her husband
took it as a warning that the sea, when it
came back, might surge inland. Carrying
their two youngest children, the couple
hurried up a nearby hill, where they
safely remained during the tsunami.
Though a mile from the sea, most of Queule, Chile, was overrun and washed away by the tsunami that followed the 1960 Chile earthquake. Many residents of Queule fled to the safety of high ground soon after the earthquake, but Jovita Riquelme lost her daughter and husband to the tsunami because the family remained at their house on low ground near the R&o Queule. From the height of debris tangled in the branches of trees that remained standing after the 1960 tsunami, Wolfgang Weischet, then a geographer at the Universidad Austral de Chile in nearby Valdivia, estimated that water from the tsunami was as much as 13 feet deep in Queule. Mr. Weischet took these before and after photos.
Heed Official Warnings
Play it safe, even if warnings seem ambiguous or you think the danger has passed.
There was plenty of time for evacuation
in Hilo, Hawaii, as the Chilean tsunami
raced across the Pacific Ocean on
May 22, 1960. At 6:47 p.m. Hawaiian
time, the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey
issued an official warning that waves were
expected to reach Hilo at about midnight.
Around 8:30 p.m., coastal sirens in Hilo
sounded and continued to sound intermittently
for 20 minutes.
When the first wave, only a few feet
high, arrived just after midnight, hundreds
of people were still at home on low
ground in Hilo. Others, thinking that the
danger had passed, returned to Hilo before
the highest wave of the tsunami struck
at 1:04 a.m. on May 23. One of those who came back
too soon was 16-year-old Carol Brown.
Carol was at her family’s house on low
ground in Hilo when the warning sirens
sounded. Carol’s parents took valuables
to a relative’s house in Papa’ikou, a few
miles northwest of Hilo, while Carol and
her brother Ernest checked on a niece who
was babysitting outside of town.
Later, Carol and Ernest returned to Hilo
after hearing on the radio that tsunami
waves had already come into town and
were only 7 feet high. On the way back,
they met a police officer who told them
that the danger had passed. Carol and
Ernest went to a sister’s house in a low
part of town. Around 1:00 a.m., they
began to hear a low rumbling noise that
soon became louder and was accompanied
by sounds of crashing and crunching.
Moments later, a wall of water hit the
house, floating it off its foundation. When
the house came to rest, Hilo was dark
because the powerplant had been knocked
out by the same wave.
Carol and her family survived the 1960
Chilean tsunami without serious injury.
However, 61 other people in Hilo died
and another 282 were badly hurt. These
losses occurred, in part, because the warning
sirens in Hilo on the evening of May
22, 1960, were interpreted differently by
different people. Although nearly everyone
heard the sirens, only about a third
of them thought it was a signal to evacuate
without further notice. Most thought
it was only a preliminary warning to be
followed later by an evacuation signal.
Others in Hilo were unsure of how seriously
to take the warnings, because several
previous alerts had been followed by
tsunamis that did little damage.
In Hilo, Hawaii, the 1960 Chilean tsunami left 61 people dead and 282 seriously injured. Although warning sirens sounded more than 3 hours before the first waves arrived, the meaning of these signals was not clear. Among those who evacuated in response to the sirens was 16-year-old Carol Brown. However, after hearing that the first waves were small and that the danger had passed, many people, including Carol and her brother Ernest, returned to homes in Hilo, only to be caught by the largest wave of the tsunami.
The photo at right shows Carol Brown (wearing the white dress) and members of her family in Papa’ikou shortly after the 1960 tsunami.
Expect Many Waves
The next wave may be bigger, and the tsunami may last for hours.
Just after 10 p.m. on May 22, 1960,
seismologist Jerry Eaton and four companions
assembled at the U.S. Geological
Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory
on the Island of Hawai’i. Gathering
cameras, notebooks, flashlights, and steel
measuring tapes, they piled into a Ford
station wagon for the 30-mile ride down to
Hilo. There they hoped to measure the
1960 Chilean tsunami, which was
expected to arrive at about midnight.
The men had good reason to measure
this tsunami. Hawai’i had been struck in the
past by deadly tsunamis, including ones
from Chile in 1837 and 1877 and one from
the Aleutian Islands in 1946 that in Hilo
alone killed 98 people. Measurements of
past tsunamis are commonly used to help
identify areas at risk from future tsunamis.
Measurements had been made in Hawaii of
Aleutian tsunamis, but little was known
about the heights of tsunamis from Chile.
In Hilo, Mr. Eaton and his companions
stopped to clear their plans with the police
and then drove to the Wailuku River
Bridge, on the shore of Hilo Bay. They knew that the 1946
Aleutian tsunami had destroyed the bridge
there. The men set up an observation post
on the new bridge and began measuring
the water level beneath it. Just in case,
they also planned their own evacuation
route, a short sprint to high ground.
Just after midnight, the water under the
bridge rose to 4 feet above normal-the
first wave of the tsunami had arrived. At
12:46 a.m., the second wave washed
under the bridge at a level 9 feet above
normal. By 1:00 a.m., the water beneath
the bridge had dropped to 7 feet below
normal. Mr. Eaton recalls that they then
heard an ominous noise, a faint rumble
like a distant train, that came from the
darkness far out in Hilo Bay. Two minutes
later, they began to see the source of the
noise, a pale wall of tumbling water,
caught in the dim lights of Hilo. The wave
grew in height as it moved steadily toward
the city, and the noise became deafening.
By 1:04 a.m., the men on the bridge
realized that they should run the few
hundred feet to high ground. Turning
around, they watched the 20-foot-high,
nearly vertical front of the wave hit the
bridge, and water splashed high into the air.
After this wave had passed and they thought
it was safe, Mr. Eaton and his companions
returned to the bridge and continued to
record the water level during several more
waves of the tsunami (see diagram below).
The town clock of Waiakea, a
Hilo suburb, stopped at 1:04
a.m. when the biggest wave of
the 1960 Chilean tsunami
struck Hawai’i. The clock, still
showing that time, now stands
as a monument to the 1960 tsunami
The 1960 Chile earthquake produced a series of tsunami waves that crossed the Pacific Ocean.
This record shows measurements of water levels beneath the Wailuku River Bridge made by seismologist
Jerry Eaton and his companions during the first few hours of the tsunami in Hilo, Hawaii.
Head for High Ground and Stay There
Move uphill or at least inland, away from the coast.
Going to high ground and staying
there helped save lives during the 1960
Chilean tsunami, not only in Chile but
also in Onagawa, Japan ().
Damaging waves in Onagawa, some of
which carried battering rams of floating
wood, reached heights of 14 feet. Such
waves kept arriving for several hours.
Elsewhere in Japan, the tsunami killed
138 people, but in Onagawa no one died,
probably because many people there
went to high ground. Some arrived there
by 4:45 a.m., as the first large wave
entered town. They had been alerted by
fireman Kimura Kunio. Mr. Kimura, on
early morning watch beside the town’s
harbor, had noticed unusual motion of
the water.
Endo Fukuei (above, in 1999) recalls the fireman’s warning that spurred citizens of Onagawa, Japan, toward high ground as the 1960 Chilean tsunami reached the town’s harbor.
Some residents gathered on a hillside as the first large wave poured into town (photos A- C). Almost 3 hours later, crowds remained on this hillside as another wave arrived (D).
Waves shown in the photos were recorded by a tide gauge in the Onagawa harbor.
In Miyako, Japan, north of Onagawa (), people went to high ground to escape the 1700 Cascadia tsunami. Their flight is reported in this book of government records from 1700. The same records say that in Miyako this tsunami destroyed 13 houses, set off a fire that burned 20 more, and caused authorities to issue rice to 159 people. At right, the character for “high ground” in the entry about the 1700 tsunami.
People in Miyako, Japan, also went to high ground to escape the 1960 Chilean tsunami. Takanohashi Go (right), outside his family’s grocery store in 1999, recalls the 1960 tsunami with fireman Yamazaki Toshio. As a middle-school student, Mr. Takanohashi ran uphill and escaped the tsunami’s waves as they reached the store.
Abandon Belongings
Save your life, not your possessions.
Like everyone else in Maull&n, Chile,
Ram&n Atala survived the 1960 Chile
earthquake. However, he lost his life while
trying to save something from the tsunami
that followed.
Mr. Atala was Maull&n’s most prosperous
merchant. Outside of town, he owned
a barn and a plantation of Monterey pine.
In town, he owned a pier and at least one
large building and also had private quarters
in a waterfront warehouse.
According to Nabih Soza, a fellow
merchant, Mr. Atala entered this warehouse
between the first and second waves
of the tsunami that struck Maull&n. Mr.
Atala was probably trapped in the warehouse
when the second wave of the tsunami washed the building away. His son,
Eduardo, said that afterward his father was
among the missing and that his body was
never found.
Some residents of the town say that Mr.
Atala was briefly restrained outside the
warehouse by his wife, who grabbed his
hair before he finally broke away. Many
in the town, spinning a cautionary tale
about a wealthy man, say he entered the
warehouse to rescue money.
Even as Mr. Atala was being carried
off by the second wave, his barn outside of
Maull&n was providing a refuge for some
20 people, saving their lives from the tsunami.
Nabih Soza, at his store in 1989,
remembers Ram&n Atala, a fellow
merchant in Maull&n, Chile. Mr.
Atala entered a warehouse in
the town between the first and
second waves of the 1960 Chilean
tsunami.
Photographs taken during the tsunami show the warehouse as the first wave withdrew (top) and a similar view after the second wave washed the warehouse away (bottom).
Don’t Count on the Roads
When fleeing a tsunami caused by a nearby earthquake, you may find roads broken or blocked.
Minutes after the 1960 Chile earthquake,
Ren& Maldonado rode his horse
on the road from Maull&n, Chile. During the ride,
Mr. Maldonado’s horse had to jump newly
formed cracks in the road. The weakened
road was soon severed by the waves of
the tsunami that followed the earthquake,
leaving channels too wide even for a horse
to jump.
Not all people in the area fleeing the
earthquake and the tsunami were as lucky
as Mr. Maldonado. Some had their routes
of escape severed by tsunami waves.
Shaking from the 1960 earthquake not
only damaged roads but also caused landslides.
In addition to blocking roads, landslides
caused by the quake dammed the
R&o San Pedro in the foothills of the
Andes about 40 miles east of the city of
Valdivia, Chile. Later failure of this landslide
dam unleashed a flood that covered
parts of the city ().
The 1960 Chile earthquake cracked
a road near Maull&n, Chile, used
minutes later by Ren& Maldonado.
This road was soon cut by the
waves of the tsunami that followed
the quake. Above, Mr. Maldonado
poses on horseback in 1989 beside
his 1960 home.
Above, a photo
from 1960 shows a quay in
Valdivia, Chile, that was broken
when shaking from the earthquake
caused land to spread toward the
adjacent river.
Go to an Upper Floor or Roof of a Building
Only if trapped and unable to reach high ground, go to an upper story of a sturdy building or get on its roof.
The family of Jos& Navarro, farming on
a low peninsula near Maull&n, Chile, had
only one quick route to high ground after
the 1960 Chile earthquake. The route was
eastward along an unpaved road, across
a bridge over a tidal stream, to uplands
called Chuyaqu&n. Although a neighbor
quickly took that route, the Navarro
family stayed in their home, beside
another tidal stream.
Some minutes after the earthquake, the
Navarro family saw the waters of the
stream recede. Never before had they seen
so much of the streambed exposed. By
then, the first wave of the tsunami that
followed the quake was approaching but
still out of view to the west.
Only when they saw a low wall of
water less than a mile away did the Navarros
head for high ground. The family
needed to cover half a mile just to reach
the bridge that their neighbor had used.
They got far enough to see the first tsunami
wave destroy it in front of them.
As the first wave receded, they looked
for something to climb. Nothing near them
stood more than a few feet high, except
for their 9-year-old apple trees and several
windbreaks of cypress. Three quarters of
a mile to the south, however, was a barn.
This was among the properties of Ram&n
Atala, who was about to be carried away
by the second wave in Maull&n.
Although Mr. Navarro’s wife and children
headed for the barn, Mr. Navarro did
not go with them. He thought he’d retrieve
a few things from the family house. However,
when he heard shouts from the direction
of Maull&n, he took them as a warning
of a second wave and went directly to the
barn.
The second wave reached the barn just
as Mr. Navarro joined his family there.
Along with 14 others, the Navarro family
spent the night in the loft of Ram&n Atala’s
barn, safe above the tsunami waters
that ran beneath them.
Mrs. and Mr. Navarro, joined by a daughter, stand for a 1989 photo on the porch of their post-tsunami home on high ground near Maull&n, Chile. The 1960 Chilean tsunami destroyed their former home, which was located on low ground by a tidal stream.
Photo above shows reference points for their flight to safety during the first two waves of the tsunami.
Climb a Tree
As a last resort, climb up a strong tree if trapped on low ground.
At least a dozen people near Maull&n,
Chile, survived the 1960 Chilean tsunami
by climbing trees. However, others perished when the
trees they climbed were toppled by the
tsunami.
Ram&n Ram&rez, 15 years old at the
time of the tsunami, survived by climbing
into the branches of a cypress tree (photo
at right) on a plain west of Maull&n. While
Mr. Ram&rez stayed safely in the cypress,
the waters of the tsunami swirled about
the tree. The water crested at 15 feet
above sea level, reaching several feet
above the tree’s base.
In nearby Quenuir, at the mouth of the
R&o Maull&n, Estalino Hern&ndez climbed
an array&n tree to escape the tsunami’s
waves. While he clung to the tree, the
waters of the tsunami rose to his waist.
Not far away, the onrushing water
covered land 30 feet above sea level.
Although Mr. Hern&ndez survived the
tsunami, he lost his 13-year-old son to the
waves. Quenuir had 104 other victims,
most of whom took to boats just after the
earthquake and were caught by the first
wave of the tsunami.
Inland from Quenuir, a pregnant Mar&a
Vera and eight others climbed a peta tree
on a low plain north of the R&o Maull&n
(photo below). Throughout the night,
water surged beneath them, scouring
sandy ground nearby.
Mar&a Vera, pregnant and over a half mile from high ground, escaped the 1960 Chilean tsunami by climbing a peta tree outside of Quenuir, Chile.
Ram&n Ram&rez (at right, in 1989) stands beside the cypress tree in which he safely stayed while the waters of the tsunami swirled about its base.
Climb onto Something that Floats
If swept up by a tsunami, look for something to use as a raft.
Nelly Gallardo survived the tsunami
that followed the 1960 Chile earthquake
by clinging to a log. The earthquake
struck while she was digging for clams on
the shore more than 4 miles west of
Maull&n, Chile. Soon after the shaking
from the quake stopped, she walked about
100 yards inland to a house that was more
than half a mile from the nearest high
ground. The next thing Ms. Gallardo
recalls is floating on a tree trunk. She
clung to this trunk until the next morning.
For a time she heard a man’s voice crying
for help-his body was found later. At
daybreak she was more than a mile from
where the tsunami had swept her up. The
tsunami included many waves, but Ms.
Gallardo recalls only the one that set her
adrift.
The roof of her family house served as
a life raft for Armanda Cubate, her 4-yearold
nephew Nelson, and five others. The
house, on low ground west of Maull&n,
withstood the 1960 earthquake. The house
also withstood the first two waves of the
tsunami that followed the quake, but the
third wave swept it away. This wave also
toppled a nearby tree that Ms. Cubate’s
father had climbed to escape the tsunami.
Both he and Ms. Cubate’s mother
drowned in the tsunami. Survivors on the
roof later pulled the mother’s body from
the water.
As marked on this 1944 photo of the mouth of
the R&o Maull&n, Chile, the 1960 Chilean
tsunami flowed 2 miles inland from the
beach at right foreground. In much of this
flooded area, the tsunami reached a height
of 15 feet above sea level. After being swept
up by the tsunami, Nelly Gallardo floated on
a log and Armanda Cubate floated on a roof
until the next morning (see far right in
photo). They survived the tsunami, but 15
other people near them died.
Expect the Waves to Leave Debris
A tsunami will leave behind sand, the remains of houses, and bodies.
El maremoto fue tan grande que hasta
los muertos sac& de sus tumbas (“The
tsunami was so big that it even took the
dead from their graves”). This saying
comes from Quenuir, Chile, a village at
the mouth of the R&o Maull&n. The tsunami
that followed the 1960 Chile earthquake
killed 105 people from Quenuir-a
quarter of the village’s population. In
addition to this loss of the living, Quenuir
lost many of its dead. The village cemetery
was located on sandy ground that
the tsunami washed away. Debris from
the cemetery came to rest more than 3
miles upriver. There, just outside La
Pasada, Tulio Ruiz found crosses and a
full casket.
The 1960 tsunami also deposited sand
along the R&o Maull&n, some of it on land
owned by Juan Vera. He and his wife,
Mar&a Silva, lived on low ground 2 miles
east of Maull&n. The 1960 earthquake
found Mrs. Silva at home and her
husband on a nearby hillside. Their house
collapsed, but Mrs. Silva escaped and
soon joined her husband on high ground.
Together they watched the tsunami
overrun their fields and carry away the
remains of their house. The next day, Mr.
Vera found a layer of sand several
inches thick on much of the land the
tsunami had overrun.
Many houses were carried inland by
the 1960 tsunami. After fleeing to high
ground near Queule, more than 100 miles
north of Maull&n (), Filberto Henr&quez saw
houses floating away from the town. He
recalls that some of the houses, with their
stoves still smoking, looked like ships.
Remains of houses from Queule ended up
as much as a mile inland (according to a
report by Wolfgang W,
but Margarita Liemp&’s house was
even her drinking
glasses were unbroken.
At Mehu&n, near Queule, Jacinto
Reyes buried some of the tsunami
victims. Among them were the parents of
two girls who were found in blackberry
bushes, scratched but alive. Not all the
tsunami victims were found quickly.
About 10 days after the tsunami, Mr.
Reyes happened upon bodies stuck in
sand and being eaten by birds.
The 1960 Chilean tsunami deposited a sand
layer on fields owned by Juan Vera near
Maull&n, Chile.
When the picture of Mr. Vera
was taken in 1989, the sand layer was still
visible in a streambank.
A similar sand layer from the 1700 Cascadia
tsunami covers the remains of a Native
American fishing camp exposed in a bank of
Oregon’s Salmon River (
for location).
Expect Quakes to Lower Coastal Land
A large earthquake can leave nearby coastal areas lowered, allowing tidal water to flood them.
The 1960 Chile earthquake not only
triggered a tsunami that killed Ram&n
Atala, it also changed his
Monterey pine plantation outside of
Maull&n, Chile, into a salt marsh. The pines, grown for
timber, covered low ground around Mr.
Atala’s barn. During the
earthquake, this land was lowered.
Because tides were then able to inundate
the plantation, the ground became too wet
and salty for the trees to survive.
What happened to Mr. Atala’s plantation
happened at many places along
Chile’s coast. When a 600-mile-long
stretch of the South American tectonic
plate was thinned during the 1960
earthquake, nearby land was lowered as
much as 8 feet. The
sea was then able to cover coastal
pastures, farms, and forests.
Coastal areas were also lowered and
submerged in Cascadia after the 1700
Cascadia earthquake. These
areas include a Native American fishing
camp. After being
inundated by the 1700 tsunami, this
fishing camp became a tidal flat or a tidal
marsh.
Expect Company
Shelter your neighbors.
In the first weeks after the 1960 Chile
earthquake and tsunami, Yolanda
Montealegre provided shelter for 40
families in Casa Grande, her large home on
the outskirts of Maull&n, Chile. Ms. Montealegre left
her house minutes after the earthquake and
reached high ground in time to watch the
arrival of the second wave of the tsunami
that followed the quake. The next morning,
she found Casa Grande in good shape, its
ground floor dry. The families she soon
took in were among the estimated 1 million
Chileans left temporarily homeless by the
earthquake and tsunami.
The 1960 Chile earthquake lowered the land beneath both this slaughterhouse and the
large home nearby on the outskirts of Maull&n, Chile. The slaughterhouse then became
flooded by high tides, but Casa Grande, the home of Yolanda Montealegre, escaped
flooding because it was on slightly higher ground. After the earthquake and the
tsunami that followed it, Ms. Montealegre sheltered 40 families there.
Credits and Sources
People Interviewed
[Listed alphabetically by father’s last
name. Numerals give age in 1960,
omitted if age not recorded. Bold type
denotes people named in this booklet or
shown in one of its photographs.]
Maull&n, Quenuir, and La Pasada, Chile
Ricardo Aguila (34), Juan Reinaldo
Aguila R. (36), Carlos Andrade (12), Jos&
Argomedo Hern&ndez (22), Jos&
Norberto Asencio C&rcamo (45), Elisa
Asencio T&llez (19), Eduardo Atala B.
(42), Reinaldo C&rcamo (52), Hern&n
C&rcamo G&mez (33),V&ctor Ch&vez
Villegas (56), Armanda Cubate (38),
Nelson H. Cubate O. (4), Palmira
Estrada Estrada (27), Nelly Gallardo
(23), Ren& Garcia S&lva (39),
Herm&genes G&mez Rival, Adelina
G&mez Rival (44), Feliza del Rosario
Hern&ndes Paredes (39), Estalino
Hern&ndez (54), Gaspar Hern&ndez,
Tulio Hern&ndez, Ren& Leichtle Krebs
(43), Ren& Maldonado (30),
Alejandrino Mancilla, Antonio Segundo
Mancilla (22), Bernarda Mancilla S.
(23), Yolanda Montealegre M&cke
(40), Rodrigo Morales, Fidel Navarro
(50), Oscar Navarro Navarro (34), Jos&
Miguel Navarro Silva (44), Enoc
Ojeda (20), Jos& B. Ojeda Mu&oz (40),
Julia Paredes Toledo (54), Ram&n
Ram&rez Sol&s (15), Braulio Reyes,
Jorge Ruiz (34), Tulio C. Ruiz (23),
Jos& Rupertino S&nchez Gallardo (15),
Ren& Ser&n (36), Mar&a Isolina Silva
(29), Domitila Sol&s (50), Pedro Soto
Soto (62), Nabih Soza (23), Gast&n
Exequiel Toledo Arria (22), Jos& Elizardo
Torralbo (27), Mar&a Vera (42),
Guillermina Vera Mansilla (39), and Juan
Vera Mancilla (34), father of Angela Vera
Reyes.
Mehu&n and Queule, Chile
Erna Espinosa, Elsira Flores, Filberto
Henr&quez Jaramillo (32), Hern&n
Liemp& (11), Margarita Liemp& (18),
Vitalia Llanquim&n, Se&or and Se&ora
Moraga, Gilberto Nahuelp&n Liemp& (25),
Jovita Riquelme (45), Daniel Nahuelp&n
Rumillanca (32), Alberto Per&n Antilco
(23), Jacinto Reyes Reyes (54),
Alejandro Villagr&n Rojas (25), Andrea of
Mehu&n, Erasmo of Mehu&n (23), and
Diodema of Mehu&n (35).
Onagawa and Miyako, Japan
E Fukuei (40), Kimura Tsuneo (28),
Moriai Miya (40), Moriai Mutsuhara (22),
Takanohashi G& (12), Yamasaki Nori (26),
and Yamazaki Toshio.
Hilo, Hawaii
Carol D. Brown (16) and Jerry P.
Eaton (33).
Book Preparation
Interviews (C, C J, Japan)
Brian Atwater (C, J), Joanne Bourgeois
(C), Jos& Ulloa Cort&s (C), Marco A.
Cisternas Vega (C), H&ctor Jim&nez N?&ez
(C), Marcelo L&pez Bermedo (C),
Musumi Satoko (J), Mary Ann Reinhart
(C), Adriana Sandoval Lagos (C), Tsuji
Yoshinobu (J), Ueda Kazue (J), and David
K. Yamaguchi (J).
Interviews (Hawaii)
Adapted from stories of tsunami
survivors in Tsunami! by Walter C.
Dudley and Min Lee, 1998 (University of
Hawaii Press), and supplemented with
1999 interviews done by Walter C.
Dudley, Peter H. Stauffer, and James W.
Hendley II.
Photographs taken before 1989
Fuerza A&rea de Chile, Serv&cio
Aerofotogram&trico (p.12, image 16019),
Griffin (1984) (inside back cover), Ilustre
Municipalidad de Maull&n (p. 4, 10, 16),
Pacific Tsunami Museum (p. 6, 7, inside
front cover), Saint-Amand (1963) (p. 5, 11),
University of Tokyo (p. 8, 9), and U.S.
Defense Mapping Agency (p. 13, image
503-333; p. 14, image 552.R.13).
Critical reviews
Sally Atwater, Jan Bono, Steven R.
Brantley, Eddie Bernard, Gary Brown, George
Crawford, Lori Dengler, Rich Eisner,
Stephanie Fritts, Eric Geist, Helen Gibbons,
Frank Gonzolez, Dick Hagemeyer, T.J.
Harmon, Imamura Fumihiko, Chris
Jonientz-Trisler, Hal Mofjeld, Alan Nelson,
Dave Oppenheimer, Jim Phipps, George
Priest, Barbara Thurman, Vasily Titov, and
John Vollmer.
Funds for publication
The National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation
Program, a partnership among the
States of Alaska, California, Hawaii,
Oregon, and Washington, and the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,
the Federal Emergency
Management Agency, and the U.S.
Geological Survey.
Other assistance
Mario Pino (Universidad Austral de
Chile); Carolina Villagr&n (Universidad
de Chile); Sergio Barrientos (Servicio
Nacional de Geolog&a y Miner&a);
Maull&n Gracilaria research team
(Universidad Austral de Chile).
Isoda Hisako, Kishimoto Kiyo, and
Satake Kenji (Geological Survey of
Japan); Murakami Yoshikanei, Sat&
Hiroshi, and Watanabe Tokie (University
of Tokyo, Earthquake Research Institute);
Abe Motomu (Town of Onagawa); and
Ota Yoko.
Layout, design and illustrations
Sara Boore and Susan M Web design by Michael Diggles
For Additional Information
1960 Chilean earthquake and tsunami
Dudley, W.C., and Lee, M., 1998, Tsunami!:
University of Hawaii Press, 362 p.
Eaton, J.P., Richter, D.H., and Ault, W.U.,
1961, The tsunami of May 23, 1960, on
the Island of Hawaii: Seismological
Society of America Bulletin, v. 51, no.
2, p. 135-157.
Griffin, Wallace, 1984, Crescent City’s
dark disaster: Crescent City Printing
Co., 188 p.
Japan Meteorological Agency, 1961, The
report on the tsunami of the Chilean
earthquake, 1960: Japan Meteorological
Agency Technical Report 8, 389 p.
Lachman, R., Tatsuoka, M., and Bonk,
W.J., 1961, Human behavior during
the tsunami of May 1960: Science, v.
133, p. .
Lomnitz, C., 1970, Major earthquakes and
tsunamis in Chile during the period
1535 to 1955: Geologische Rundschau,
v. 59, p. 938-960.
Plafker, G., and Savage, J.C., 1970, Mechanism
of the Chilean earthquakes of May
21 and 22, 1960: Geological Society of
America Bulletin, v. 81, p. .
Saint-Amand, P., ed., 1963, Special
issue-oceanographic, geologic, and
engineering studies of the Chilean
earthquakes of May 1960: Seismological
Society of America Bulletin, v. 53,
no. 6, p. .
Shepard, F.P., MacDonald, G.A., and Cox,
D.C., 1950, The tsunami of April 1,
1946: Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Bulletin, v. 5, p. 391-528.
The Committee for Field Investigation of
the Chilean Tsunami of ,
Report on the Chilean tsunami of May
24, 1960, as observed along the coast of
Japan: Tokyo, Maruzen Co., 397 p.
1700 Cascadia earthquake and tsunami
Atwater, B.F., and Hemphill-Haley, E.,
1997, Recurrence intervals for great
earthquakes of the past 3,500 years at
northeastern Willapa Bay, Washington:
U.S. Geological Survey Professional
Paper
Atwater, B.F., Yelin, T.S., Weaver, C.S.,
and Hendley, J.W., II, 1995, Averting
suprises in the Pacific Northwest:
U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet
111-95, 2 p.
Clague, J.J., 1997, Evidence for large
earthquakes at the Cascadia subduction
zone: Reviews of Geophysics, v.
35, p. 439-460.
Satake, K., Shimazaki, K., Tsuji, Y., and
Veda, K., 1996, Time and size of a giant
earthquake in Cascadia inferred from
Japanese tsunami record of January
1700: Nature, v. 379, p. 246-249.
Tsuji, Y., Ueda, K., and Satake, K., 1998,
Japanese tsunami records from the
January 1700 earthquake in the
Cascadia subduction zone: Zishin, v.
51, p. 1-17 [in Japanese with English
abstract, figures, and figure captions].
Yamaguchi, D.K., Atwater, B.F., Bunker,
D.E., Benson, B.E., and Reid, M.S.,
1997, Tree-ring dating the 1700
Cascadia earthquake: Nature, v. 389, p.
922-923; correction in v. 390, p. 352.
Other sources
In the comparison of tsunami heights in
Japan (p. 3), heights for the 1960 tsunami
are known to the nearest foot or better. They
come from reports by the Japan Meteorological
Agency (1961) and the Committee
for Field Investigation of the Chilean
Tsunami of ), and from reconnaissance
near Miyako, Japan, in 1999 by
Brian Atwater and David Yamaguchi. The
comparison with 1700 is not adjusted for
changes in land level between 1700 and
1960; correction for these changes would
increase most of the 1700 heights by several
feet (Tsuji and others, 1998).
Nikita Khrushchev (p. 4) was referring
to the U-2 mission of Francis Gary
Powers. His remarks come from a news
conference after cancellation of a summit
meeting with Dwight Eisenhower in Paris.
A partial transcript was printed in the New
York Times of May 19, 1960. East-West
tension was still the lead story on May 23,
but on that day the front page of the Times
also carried an initial wire-service account
of the May 22, 1960, Chile earthquake
and tsunami. The tsunami remained frontpage
news on May 24 and May 25-
second only to stories about U.S. and
Soviet spying and a U.S. missile-detection
satellite-as tsunami losses were reported
from Hawaii and Japan.
Tsunami heights and deaths on in this report come from interviews and surveys
done in 1988 and 1989. The heights are
rounded to the nearest 5 feet, but some
points precisely identified by survivors
were surveyed to the nearest foot. The
figure of 105 fatalities from Quenuir
comes from Ren& Ser&n. As a civil
servant in 1960, Mr. Ser&n kept records of
births, deaths, and other official matters
in Quenuir. In 1989, he recalled that the
pre-tsunami town had about 50 houses, a
church, a cemetery, and 400 to 450
inhabitants.
Tsunami-hazard information on the
World Wide Web
Waterfront area in Crescent City,
California, flooded by the 1960
Chilean tsunami. Here, the tsunami
caused more than $30,000 in damage,
including the sinking of two boats.
However, damage was much more
severe 600 miles to the south in the
Los Angeles area, where the tsunami
killed one person and caused from
$500,000 to $1,000,000 in damage,
including the sinking of 30 boats.
National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program—A partnership among the States of Alaska,
California, Hawaii, Oregon, and Washington,
and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, the Federal Emergency
Management Agency, and the U.S. Geological
Survey.
Manuscript approved for publication, August 5, 1999
Any use of trade, product, or firm names in this
publication is for descriptive purposes only and
does not imply endorsement by the U.S.
Government.
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Date created: November 1, 1999
Date last modified: July 2, 2007 (mfd)}