USGS Frequently Asked Questions

Answer:

1. 1797: A magnitude 8.4 earthquake near the central part of the western Sumatra generated a tsunami that flooded Padang. More than 300 fatalities.

2. 1833: A magnitude 8.7 earthquake near the south coast of the western Sumatra triggered a huge tsunami that flooded the southern part of western Sumatra. Numerous victims.

3. 1843: A tsunami that came from the southeast and flooded the coast of the Nias Island. Many fatalities.

4. 1861: A magnitude 8.5 earthquake affected all the western coast of Sumatra. Several thousand fatalities.

5. 1881: A magnitude 7.9 earthquake in the Andaman Island region generated a 1 m high tsunami on India’s eastern coast. (http://cires.colorado.edu/~bilham/Oldham1881account.htm

6. 1883: Krakatau explosion. 36,000 fatalities, primarily on the islands of Java and Sumatra.

7. 1941: A magnitude ~7.7 Adaman Islands earthquake. Anecdotal accounts exist of a tsunami, however, no official records exist.

References:
Tsunami Laboratory, Institute of Computational Mathematics and Mathematical Geophysics
(http://tsun.sscc.ru/tsulab/20041226tsun.htm)
National Geophysical Data Center (http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/seg/hazard/hazards.shtml)
K. Sieh (http://www.gps.caltech.edu/~sieh/publications.htm)
R. Bilham (http://cires.colorado.edu/~bilham/IndonesiAndaman2004.htm)
Oritz and Billham, 2003 JGR, VOL. 108, NO. B4, pp 2215