On January 15, 2022, a tsunami struck the Tonga Islands, leaving a recorded historical record of severe physical impacts and human casualties. According to the NOAA/NCEI Global Historical Tsunami Database, the event occurred at 04:14:45 UTC and reached a maximum water height of 22.0 meters.
Event Impacts and Casualties
The tsunami resulted in 6 deaths and 20 injuries. Property and infrastructure damage associated with the disaster was evaluated at 135.368 million USD.
Data and Record Classification
In the official tsunami hazard records, the event is assigned a validity code of 4. The recorded maximum water height of 22.0 meters illustrates the localized extreme runup observed during the event.
Image credits
- MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC — Wikimedia Commons source — Public domain
Sources and further context
Official datasets support the event-specific facts.