Tsunami - December 1992, Indonesia

On 12 December, an earthquake with a Surface Magnitude of 7.5 occurred immediately north of the island of Flores, triggering a major tsunami that caused extensive damage on the island and took more than 1,500 lives¹. The small island of Babi was particularly badly affected, with all houses destroyed and 263 people out of the island population of 1100 perishing¹,². Around half of the total fatalities are attributed to the tsunami, with the other half arising due to the direct effects of the earthquake, most particularly building collapse².

Tsunami run-up heights along the northern shore of Flores ranged from 2 to 5 m in the central part of the island to as high as 26 m further east¹, and a run-up of 26.2 m was recorded at Riangkroko on Floresa north-eastern peninsula. The extreme wave heights in this area are attributed to a combination of the local topography and the entry of a large earthquake-triggered landslide into the sea².

¹ Hidayat, D, Barker, J.S & Satake, K. 1995. Modelling the Seismic Source and Tsunami Generation of the December 12, 1992 Flores Island, Indonesia Earthquake. PAGEOPH. Vol. 144, pp 537-554

² Imamura, F, Gica, E, Takahashi, T & Shuto, N. 1995. Numerical Simulation of the 1992 Flores Tsunami: Interpretation of Tsunami Phenomena in the North-eastern Flores Island and Damage at Babi Island. PAGEOPH. Vol. 144, pp 555-568