Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

This site is currently in beta, and your feedback is helping shape its ongoing development.

October 1918 Puerto Rico, USA Images

Published by NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce | Metadata Last Checked: February 07, 2026 | Last Modified: 2012-02-01T00:00:00.000+00:00
At 10:14 am local time on October 11th, 1918, a magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck in Mona Passage, west of Puerto Rico. The shock was immediately followed by a tsunami with runup heights reaching 6 meters. Both the earthquake and tsunami caused widespread property damage with estimates beginning at $4 million in damage and more than 100 casualties. The greatest number of fatalities are attributed to the tsunami. NOTE: Images in this collection have been digitally altered in order to fix image damage, eliminate image noise caused by digitization, and recreate pixels to improve image resolution. Images provided courtesy of the University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez, Dept. of Geology, Puerto Rico Seismic Network and edited by Victor Figueroa.

data.gov

An official website of the GSA's Technology Transformation Services

Looking for U.S. government information and services?
Visit USA.gov