The 1960 Chile tsunami in the near field: a retrospective compilation of existing and new field data

The effects of the May 22nd 1960 Chile tsunami are well documented along the Pacific Ocean coastlines, yet its characteristics within the source region remain poorly documented. Here, we address this gap by offering a compiled dataset of near-field tsunami observations. The dataset integrates published data, observations inferred from eyewitnesses interviewed 50–60 years after, and high-resolution runups based on the combination of post-event aerial photographs and LiDAR at two sites. Our compiled dataset comprises 246 qualitative and quantitative entries, substantially reducing reliance on the limited set of historically well-documented sites. In the compiled dataset, runup observations increase from 21 to 51, and five new flow-depth measurements are added to the existing 31 entries. The compiled dataset shows maximum and average runups of 25.9 and 9.6 m, respectively, and other types of records. To reconcile the heterogeneity among sources, we introduce a multi-criteria reliability data index that provides a comparative yet subjective measure of data quality. Despite being the largest instrumentally recorded earthquake (Mw 9.2–9.6), runups are comparable to smaller events in the Pacific Rim (Chile 2010, Japan 2011 and Russia 2025), but they extend over a larger stretch of coastline as a consequence of the longer rupture zone. However, the limited number of observations in the curated database may result in an underrepresentation of localized extremes when compared to recent events.