Stranda, Møre og Romsdal
# Stranda, Møre og Romsdal

Stranda is the administrative centre of Stranda Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The village is located on the western shore of the Storfjorden. The 2.4-square-kilometre (590-acre) village has a population (2018) of 2,969 and a population density of 1,237 inhabitants per square kilometre (3,200/sq mi). This is the largest urban area in the municipality.

The village is the shopping and industry center of the municipality. It lies along Norwegian County Road 60, and there is a ferry connection to the village of Liabygda, across the fjord. The village of Helsem lies about 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) south of Stranda. Stranda Church is located in Stranda. The newspaper Sunnmøringen is published in Stranda.

At 10:00 p.m. on 8 January 1731, a landslide with an estimated volume of 6,000,000 cubic metres (7,800,000 cubic yards) fell from a height of 500 metres (1,600 ft) on the slope of the mountain Skafjell into the Storfjorden opposite Stranda. The slide generated a megatsunami 30 metres (98 ft) in height that struck Stranda, flooding the area for 100 metres (328 ft) inland and destroying the church and all but two boathouses, as well as many boats. Damaging waves struck as far as way as Ørskog. The waves killed 17 people. It was the first natural disaster in Norway to be reported and documented in historic time.

