AHEAD European Archive of Historical EArthquake DataEuropean Archive of Historical EArthquake Data

A unified catalogue containing 293 tsunamis generated in the European and Mediterranean seas since 6150 B.C. to current days is presented. It is the result of a systematic and detailed review of all the regional catalogues available in literature covering the study area, each of them having their own format and level of accuracy. The realization of a single catalogue covering a so wide area and involving several countries was a complex task that posed a series of challenges, being the standardization and the quality of the data the most demanding. A “reliability” value was used to rate equally the quality of the data for each event and this parameter was assigned based on the trustworthiness of the information related to the generating cause, the tsunami description accuracy and also on the availability of coeval bibliographical sources. Following these criteria we included in the catalogue events whose reliability ranges from 0 (“very improbable tsunami”) to 4 (“definite tsunami”). About 900 documentary sources, including historical documents, books, scientific reports, newspapers and previous catalogues, support the tsunami data and descriptions gathered in this catalogue. As a result, in the present paper a list of the 290 tsunamis with their main parameters is reported. The online version of the catalogue, available at http://roma2.rm.ingv.it/en/facilities/data_bases/52/catalogue_of_the_euro-mediterranean_tsunamis, provides additional information such as detailed descriptions, pictures, etc. and the complete list of bibliographical sources. Most of the included events have a high reliability value (3= “probable” and 4= “definite”) which makes the Euro-Mediterranean Tsunami Catalogue an essential tool for the implementation of tsunami hazard and risk assessment.

Earthquake data from Baptista and Miranda (2009) and from GPSN (1991). Rather strong earthquake with epicentre in land. Felt in the western and central parts of the Algarve from Cape S.Vicente to Faro and Tavira (Anonymous, 1723). According to Baptista and Miranda (2009), the flooding of Tavira area is well documented and persisted in the collective memory of the population. In the “Chronica Serafica da Santa Provincia dos Algarves” (Belém, 1750)is reported that some days after, a thanksgiving procession took place in the town of Tavira, which was repeated every year since, in the same day of 27 December, with the presence of the Senate, the Communities and a large amount of people, “to keep the memory of the great benefit, although the large damage suffered, the entire town could have been entirely submerged”. At Faro and Tavira a rather strong river withdrawal observed.