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 About 900 documentary sources, including historical documents, books, scientific reports, newspapers and previous catalogues, support the tsunami data and descriptions gathered in this catalogue.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.

Event coordinates after Papadopoulos et al. (2010). The SW part of Peloponnese was hit by a very strong shock which caused widespread damage in Kyparissia, Philiatra and in many villages of the area. According to Soloviev et al., (2000), who quotes Mitzopoulos (1900), a tsunami was originated and its wave flooded the coast in Marathon. Fishermen in the sea at first heard a noise like heavy rain, and after that, they noticed huge waves which nearly sank them together with their boat. Women gathering snails on the coast suddenly found themselves almost waist-deep in water In Marathoupole, close to Kyparissia, a tsunami of height no more than 1 m was observed while in Zakynthos the wave height was about 40 cm (Mitzopoulos, 1900; Eginitis, 1901). According to Galanopoulos (1941) the tsunami was possibly triggered by submarine slump. Event revised by Papadopoulos et al. (2010), Papadopoulos and Fokaefs (2005).