Personal and official correspondence (Gulston, 1763, Verelst, 1762) describe a damaging earthquake near Chittagong on the evening of 2 April 1762 at approximately 17:00 local time (henceforth LT). At Chittagong (Chattigaon/Islamabad), where the shock lasted close to four minutes, people found it difficult to stand and, with the exception of “matt bungalows”, almost every brick building, including the East India Company factory, was damaged (ibid.). At Bahngoo Changee, “the houses of most of its inhabitants were thrown down” (Gulston, 1763). Bilham (2004) suggests lateral spreading was to blame for the sinking of a large tract of land “up to a man’s waist” at Baharchara where nearly 200 lives were lost (Gulston, 1763, Verelst, 1762). Damage extended to other towns near Chittagong and widespread liquefaction choked tanks with sand (ibid.). The channels of the creeks at Bazally, Do Hazari and Silcope as well as the Ichamatti River were also blocked by sand (ibid.). A landslide dammed the Karnaphuli River at Cutcha Ghaut/Kadr Katcheah but this might have been temporary as Persian correspondence (Imperial Record Department, 1911) from November 1762 and March 1763 mentions shipping on this route from Rangamati to Dhaka. Significant landslides occurred in the Mug Mountains to the south (Gulston, 1763, Verelst, 1762). The earthquake was felt “with equal severity” on the Arakan Coast (Verelst, 1762) and was also perceptible at Fort William in Kolkata (Anonymous, 1763). Seismic seiches were noted at Gaurhati (Ghirotty) and Kolkata (Hirst, 1763). Original accounts from Chittagong do not speak of a tsunami although Gulston (1763) notes, “the river rushed upon the shore like the surf of the sea.” At Dhaka, the level of the river rose suddenly as a result of which “hundreds of large country boats were driven ashore or lost, and great numbers were lost in them” (Hirst, 1763). This study did not find evidence to suggest that anecdotal reports of uplift on Cheduba Island (Halstead, 1841) was linked singularly to this earthquake as other little known earthquakes are reported from the Chittagong and Arakan coasts in 1761, 1776 (Englishman. 1865. December 23) and 1817 (Anonymous, 1818). The earthquake in April 1761 was “smart” at Chittagong (Verelst, 1762). It was followed by several aftershocks (ibid.) and altered the drainage channels at Khautkhali near Kutubdia Island (Dalrymple, 1785).
This event was discussed in detail by Ambraseys and Jackson (2003) and is summarized here. This earthquake killed at least 300 people at Uttarkashi (Barahat) in the Garhwal region where numerous houses and at least one temple collapsed. Landslides and damage occurred near Badrinath, Devaprayag, Gangotri, Kalapa Gram and Srinagar in Garhwal, with damage extending westward into the Bashahr and Sirmaur regions. The earthquake was severely felt and resulted in damage at Agra, Aligarh, Delhi, Mathura (Muttra) and Lucknow in the Gangetic plains. Liquefaction occurred in fields near Mathura. At Mehrauli in south Delhi, upper sections of the Kutub Minar are alleged to have dislodged while in Lucknow, several turrets were dislodged from buildings in the Imambarah. Tremors were also felt at Allahabad, Chunar, Farukhabad, Gaya, Jabalpur, Mullye, Sultanpur and Varanasi (Benaras). Seismic seiches were noted in tanks and ponds in Kolkata; in one instance, a particularly energetic seiche threw water and many fish over the banks of a pond at the Botanical Gardens in Howrah. A church clock was stopped at 01:35 LT in Kolkata.
Several towns on the Kachchh mainland, including Anjar, Bhuj, Kothari, Lakhpat, Mandvi, Mothora, Naliya and Thera, were heavily damaged in this earthquake that occurred at approximately 19:00 LT in Kachchh (MacMurdo, 1823). At least 1,543 deaths were counted in the larger towns in the region while an unknown number of fatalities occurred in outlying villages (ibid.). The town of Kothari was “reduced to a heap of rubbish” while Mothora “suffered equally in houses and ramparts” (ibid.). Naliya and Vinjan are said to have suffered nearly in the same manner but details were unavailable hence the intensities assigned to these locales by this study are lower when compared to Kothari and Mothora. In Anjar, buildings as well as fortifications were damaged in the western parts underlain by a ridge of slate while eastern parts of the town “upon a slope that opened to a plain of springs and swamps, into which the town is drained, was entirely overturned” (MacMurdo, 1823). Similarly, north-northeastern parts of Bhuj were “utterly destroyed” while southern quarters were “comparatively little injured” though most of the surviving structures were “much shattered” (ibid.). Based on these descriptions we assign different intensities to both parts of the two towns. Outside of Kachchh, 50 deaths were reported from Mangrul, 2 at Kheda (Kaira) and 8–10 at Amran (ibid.). Buildings and forts were damaged at Amran, Balamba, Dhrul, Jamnagar, Jodiya (Isoria), Morbi, Porbandar, Ranpur and Tankaria (MacMurdo, 1823, Anonymous, 1819). At Ahmedabad the minarets of the Jama Masjid “tumbled to the ground” (Bombay Gazette. 1819. June 16–September 1). Buildings were damaged in many parts of Gujarat including at Bharuch (Broach), Kheda, Mangrul, Porbandar and Surat (ibid.) with unsubstantiated damage extending north into Sindh at Baliari and Umarkot (MacMurdo, 1823). At least 500 people were “smothered” at a wedding feast at Jaiselmer (Jellisheer) in Rajasthan (Bombay Chronicle. 1819. August 25). The earthquake was felt widely across south Asia as far as Allahabad, Chunar, Kathmandu, Kolkata, Machilipatnam, Mathura, Mumbai, Pulicat, Pondicherry, Pune and Thiruvaiaru (Bilham, 1998, MacMurdo, 1823, Anonymous, 1820). Seismic seiches were witnessed in fountains at the palace in Achalpur (Anonymous, 1820). A local tsunami flooded the Great Rann, submerging the fort of Sindri shortly after the earthquake (MacMurdo, 1823). This earthquake resulted in the formation of a ridge-like feature along the northern edge of the Great Rann that was subsequently known at the “Allah Bund” or the “Dam of God” (Oldham, 1926).
At around 10:10 LT, a severe aftershock lasting fifty seconds demolished a number of damaged buildings at Anjar (MacMurdo, 1823) while at Bhuj an eyewitness said, “I could scarcely keep my feet” (Anonymous, 1819). This aftershock was also felt severely at Jodiya and caused some damage at Porbandar (ibid.). Tremors were felt in much of Gujarat including Ahmedabad, Bharuch, Surat and Vadodara; at Surat a clock stopped at 10:08 LT and upset glasses containing lamp oil (Bilham, 1998, Anonymous, 1819).
This earthquake struck Mymensingh at approximately 22:30 LT and demolished “the upper apartments of several houses” while others were “materially fractured so as to render them totally unsafe to dwell in” (Calcutta Journal. 1822. April 5–April 20). Two slighter shocks were felt thereafter and another, the following morning (ibid.). At Comilla, people found it difficult to stand, oil was thrown out of glasses and clocks were stopped but no material damage was done (Anonymous, 1822). Tremors were felt in many parts of Bengal and Bihar including at Barisal (Backergunje), Baharampur (Berhampore), Bhagalpur, Gaya, Jessore, Krishnanagar, Kolkata, Noakhali and Rangpur (Calcutta Journal. 1822. April 5–April 20; Anonymous, 1822).
Tremors were felt in many parts of Sri Lanka and, to a slightly lesser extent in southern India (Logan, 1887, Oldham, 1883a). Out to sea, it was felt aboard the ships the Orpheus and the Winchester (Leoni, 1841). Passengers and crew of the Winchester had an alarming experience lasting a couple of minutes and said the ship felt “as if it were passing over a coral rock” (ibid.). Those aboard the Orpheus felt further shocks at 14:05 LT and about 17:00 LT (ibid.).
(Bilham, 1995) discussed the main earthquake (NEPAL-C) in detail and a summary of this event is presented herewith. The first of the earthquakes in this sequence occurred close to sundown and was strongly felt in the Kathmandu valley in Nepal including as far as Allahabad, Chhapra, Munger, Patna and Rangpur (ibid.). The second earthquake at approximately 23:35 LT was also strongly felt in the Kathmandu valley and most notably at Muzaffarpur (Tirhoot) and Munger (Monghyr) in the Gangetic plains (ibid.). It also stopped clocks at Kolkata (ibid.). The third event, that was the strongest, struck at approximately 23:56 LT. It caused extensive damage in the Kathmandu valley and in towns towards the Chinese border (ibid.). In Kathmandu, the temple of Jagannath was badly damaged and collapsed sometime the following morning (ibid.). Towns to the east of Kathmandu such as Bhatgaon were “almost entirely destroyed” (Campbell, 1833). In Tibet (Bhote), significant damage also occurred at Zhangu (Kassa) and Quxan (Chen, 1982). At Kuti (Nyalam), 550 out of 600 houses were destroyed (Campbell, 1833). Along the border with Tibet, an iron bridge was destroyed at Listigaon near Kodari (Campbell, 1833). Damage occurred in central Nepal, including in the Kathmandu Valley and extended into north Bihar (ibid.). The earthquake was felt throughout north India including as far south as Chittagong and Delhi (Bilham, 1995). Campbell (1833) lists 414 deaths in Nepal with other sources putting it at between 600 and 800 (Bengal Hurkaru. 1833.; Bilham, 1995). In Bihar, three fatalities occurred at Chapra (Bilham, 1995) and it was reported in Munger that “500 persons were killed in Patna” (Leslie, 1834). Deaths were also noted in Tibet (Chen, 1982). A crack was formed in the earth near Chapra (ibid.). A seismic seiche was generated in the Yamuna at Allahabad (ibid.). An aftershock on 4 October was strongly felt along the Nepal-Bihar border near Purnea (ibid.). One person killed at Bhagalpur and tremors from this aftershock were felt as far as Chittagong and Jabalpur (ibid.). Another shock was felt at Gorakhpur on 18 October and was described as a “most tremendous earthquake” lasting a minute and is thought to have been much more severe than the events of 26 August 1833 (ibid.).
At Sultanpur, soldiers“ huts were damaged (Oldham, 1883a). It was felt for 30–40 seconds at Mathura and was also felt at Chunar, Jaunpur, Mainpuri and Mirzapur (ibid.).
Hundreds of deaths occurred in this earthquake in the Alignar Valley in eastern Afghanistan and in adjoining parts of northwestern Pakistan (Ambraseys and Bilham, 2003a). It was impossible to remain standing during the earthquake at Jalalabad (Eyre, 1843, Sale, 1843) where a third of the houses and parts of the fort walls were destroyed (ibid.). In the neighborhood of Jalalabad, the forts of Pashshad (Pashat) and Shewan (Shewa) were totally destroyed (Ambraseys and Bilham, 2003a). In the large settlements of Chaharbagh and Tigri in the Alignar Valley, scarcely a house was left standing and hundreds of people were killed (ibid.). Damage also occurred at Peshawar where dozens of fatalities occurred (Baird Smith, 1844). This earthquake was felt throughout the northern subcontinent as far as Delhi, Ludhiana, Mussourie and Quetta (ibid.). Seismic seiches were observed at Kulsea and Poojna near Muzaffarnagar while at Sohna, the temperature of hot springs dropped considerably (ibid.).
Minor damage occurred at Dehradun and Landour in Uttarakhand (Baird Smith, 1843). It was also felt at Berkeri, Delhi, Mussourie, Saharanpur and Shimla in northern India (Anonymous, 1843, Baird Smith, 1843).
Private correspondence detailing this earthquake in Baird Smith (1843) is summarized here. Chimneys of two indigo boilers and a rum distillery were thrown down at Pabna. At Egra (Acra), mortar was dislodged and bottles were broken (ibid.). Light damage also occurred at Darjeeling, Shrirampur (Serampore) and in the vicinity of Basirhat. At Munger a portion of the fort collapsed. Tremors were felt in much of Bengal as well as in adjacent parts of Assam and Bihar. It was also felt aboard the ship the Agincourt which was 50 miles southeast of Floating Light south of Kolkata. Energetic seismic seiches were observed in the Sunderbans.
This earthquake was severely felt at Shorapur, between 04:30 LT and 05:00 LT, where it caused “infinite alarm” and dislodged plaster from walls (Bombay Monthly Times. 1843. April). About six miles outside this town an eyewitness claimed, “the ground rocked so much that he ran to a date tree for support; but this moving also, he threw himself on the ground, and did not venture to move till all was over” (ibid.). This earthquake was also felt at Bellary, Harihar (Hurryhur), Kurnul, Mukhtal (Mucktul) and Lingsugur (Singsoorgoor). A misprint in Baird Smith (1843) states “Sholapur” instead of “Shorapur” and this error has been duplicated in Oldham (1883a).
Three distinct earthquakes were felt in Assam and Bengal on 23 July, 26 July and 6 August and correspondence from the the Bengal Hurkaru (1845. July 26–August 27) and the Englishman (1845. July 26–August 26) is summarized here. The first earthquake at approximately 04:30 LT on 23 July was felt strongly in Bengal and lower Assam. This was followed by another earthquake at approximately 02:00 LT on 26 July that was also felt in the same region. The strongest earthquake occurred on 6 August at approximately 23:30 LT. This shock damaged several houses and the portico of the church at Sylhet. At Guwahati the church steeple was knocked down and “a vast deal of damage done.” An eyewitness in Cherrapunji said he “could hardly stand on his feet and expected every moment the house would fall in.” Minor damage also occurred at Jessore and Pabna. Tremors were felt strongly at Kolkata, Kumarkhali, Malda, Murshidabad, Mymensingh, and Rangpur. In Kolkata, a clock stopped at Chinsurah and doors and windows rattled. This earthquake was felt as far as Darjeeling.
Correspondence that appeared in the Bengal Hurkaru (1846. October 19–November 5) and the Englishman (1846. October 19–November 10) is summarized here. On 16 October, a shock was felt at Mymensingh at 11:10 LT and at Pabna at noon. On the 17 October, two severe shocks were felt at Mymensingh at 06:10 LT and 11:20 LT; the second being felt at Pabna as well. Tremors were also felt at Murshidabad on this date. The strongest earthquake in this sequence was felt on 18 October at 14:00 LT. “Pukka” buildings were destroyed at Muktagacha, Sherpur and Susang (Soosung) while at Mymensingh many structures were damaged including the church, the mosque and many government buildings. Several prisoners were injured by falling debris at the jail in Mymensingh. To the north of this town, liquefaction was reported from a location known as Kustia Chur. The earthquake on 18 October was strong enough to stop clocks in Kolkata. Tremors were felt throughout Bengal and in eastern Bihar. They were felt once again at 06:00 LT and 17:00 LT at Mymensingh; the first of these being perceptible at Pabna where two light shocks were experienced on 24 October at 03:00 LT.
Tremors were felt strongly at Mount Abu where articles were thrown off tables, bungalows developed cracks and the Dilwara temple was “much injured” (Oldham, 1883a). Tremors were felt in parts of western and central India including at Ahmedabad and Bhopal (ibid.).
This earthquake struck at approximately 08:15 LT damaging buildings slightly at Barpeta while at Ruha “the ground moved greatly, the trees also shook violently” (Jenkins, 1849). This shock was felt at Guwahati and Nowgong (ibid.). It was also felt as far as Kolkata where it caused hanging lights to swing in a house on Chowringhee for 5 minutes (Bengal Hurkaru. 1849. January–February).
At Almora, the mess of the Sirmaur Batallion was badly damaged: “the verandah, chimneys, and some of the walls are said to have fallen bodily” (Delhi Gazette. 1852. March 2–April 6). At Pilibhit, it was violent enough to “render it difficult to stand” (Burgess, 1853). This shock struck at approximately 20:15 LT and was widely felt in northern India causing slight damage at Delhi, Meerut and Mussourie (Delhi Gazette. 1852. March 2–April 6; Moffusilite. 1852. April 6). Bapat et al. (1983) erroneously assumed this event originated in the Gangetic plains near Meerut based on a singular account that appears in Oldham (1883a).
Correspondence to the Delhi Gazette (1856. April 9–April 26) and the Lahore Chronicle (1856. April 9–April 12) are summarized here and distinguished as three separate events. The first on the evening of Sunday, 6 April was strong at Jhelum and Wazirabad. It was felt at Amritsar, Dalhousie and Lahore as well as being perceptible at Mussourie and Peshawar. The following morning, a tremor was felt strongly at Dalhousie, Kotgarh, Mussourie and Shimla. It was also felt at Amritsar, Lahore, Kangra and Wazirabad as well as being perceptible at Peshawar. The strongest event of the three occurred on the evening of Monday, 7 April. At Kotgarh, a wall was rent and a chimney “lost its equilibrium” partially collapsing in a storm the following morning. At Dalhousie, several bottles were thrown down in a godown covering the floor in a “savoury mixture of spirits, oils of almonds, milk, punch and Lucerne seeds.” This third event was strongly felt at Kangra, Lahore, Peshawar and Shimla. It was also felt at Jhelum, Karnaul and Mussourie. None of the three earthquakes were felt in Delhi.
This earthquake was severely felt around 16:45 LT at Kyauk Pyu where people were knocked off their feet and buildings badly damaged (Bengal Hurkaru. 1858. August 25–September 18 ; Englishman. 1858. August 26–September 11). Liquefaction was also noticed at many places on the island of Kyauk Pyu (ibid.). At Sittwe (Akyab), walls were cracked and an almirah was knocked over (Englishman. 1858. August 26–September 11). Damage also occurred at Meaday, Pye, Ramree (ibid.) and Thayetmyo; at the latter the spires of several padogas were destroyed (Anthenum. 1858. August 28–October 2). At Rangoon, pictures fell off walls (Anthenum. 1858. August 28–October 2). People as far north as Kolkata were frightened and ran outdoors (Bengal Hurkaru. 1858. August 25–September 18) while at Shrirampur plaster was dislodged from walls (Friend of India. 1858. August 26). The earthquake was felt in many parts of Burma including at Yangon as well as in many parts of the subcontinent as far as Chennai, Karanja Island, Krishnagiri, Muzaffarnagar and Tavoy (Anthenum. 1858. August 28–October 2; Madras Daily Times. 1858.; Oldham, 1883a).
Severe tremors were felt at Kondavidu (Condaveed) around 04:00 LT where some old walls were thrown down (Dykes, 1859). At Kamalpadu (Coomalpaud), the walls and arches of the Traveller“s Bungalow developed cracks (ibid.). Tremors were perceptible in neighbouring Marturu (Martoor) and large stones rolled down the Bogoola Hills onto the plains (ibid.). This earthquake was also felt sharply at Chennai, Guntur and Hyderabad (Dykes, 1859; Madras Daily Times. 1859. July 27).
At least 20 people were killed in building collapses at Limbdi (Kennelly, 1864). At Kheda, masonry was dislodged from the town gates (Times of India. 1864. May). The earthquake was strong enough at Ahmedabad to cause “a state of greatest alarm” (Kennelly, 1864). It was also distinctly felt in many parts of Gujarat and in southern Rajasthan around 11:00 LT (Bombay Gazette. 1864. May;Kennelly, 1864; Times of India. 1864. May).
News reports (Bengal Hurkaru. 1865. December 18–December 22; Englishman. 1865. December 16–January 4) indicate this earthquake that struck at approximately 18:45 LT, damaged many buildings at Chittagong including the Collectorate and the Dak bungalow. An eyewitness said the motion of the ground was “like a man trying to get his sea legs.” Cracks, some extending considerable distances, were formed and at Noapara to the northeast of the city, sand was emitted from a fissure. Several aftershocks were felt until 18 December. Plaster was dislodged from buildings at Dhaka and Raniganj. Tremors were felt at many places in Bengal and along the Arakan Coast. Another earthquake was felt in north Bengal on 19 December 1865 at approximately 21:30 LT and its effects have been confused with the event on 14 December in Oldham (1883a). The 19 December earthquake frightened many people out of their houses at Rajshahi (Bengal Hurkaru. 1865. December 18–December 22) while at Dhaka an eyewitness stated, “It nearly threw us off our editorial chair” (Englishman. 1865. December 16–January 4). This later earthquake was felt at Bogra, Dewangiri and Silchar (Englishman. 1865. December 16–January 4).
This earthquake was felt at Jeur in Maharashtra where it rattled crockery (Bombay Gazette. 1866. January). At Bijapur, where it was felt for 30 seconds, minarets of the Nurahira Rosa were seen shaking and a wall of loose stones around a tree was upset (ibid.). Shocks were also experienced at Lingasugur, Mumbai and Solapur (Srivastava and Das, 1988).
“Hundreds of houses” collapsed at Kathmandu and damage extended to the Residency (Mofussilite. 1866. May 29–June 19). Details from the Bengal Hurkaru (1866. May 26–June 9), the Mofussilite (1866. May 29–June 19), the Pioneer (1866. May 25–June 15), the Englishman (1866. May 24–June 23) and the Times of India (1866. June 1–June 4) are summarized below. At Muzaffarpur, four people were seriously hurt by falling masonry and a European child was badly injured in a wall collapse. At Munger, part of the roof and parapet of a house collapsed. Minor damage was also recorded from Ghazipur and Gorakhpur while at Juanpur the event terminated with a shock “sufficient to make one stagger.” The earthquake was widely felt at approximately 15:35 LT in the Gangetic plains at Allahabad, Azimganj, Banda, Bhagalpur, Faizabad (Fyzabad), Jamalpur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Pratapgarh and Varanasi. It was also felt at Darjeeling as well as at Jabalpur, Mandla and Nagpur. A gate pillar is said to have fallen over at Mandla due to this earthquake. An aftershock thought to have caused further damage at Patna was felt at Danapore, Darjeeling, Gorakhpur, Muzaffarpur and Varanasi between 22:30 LT and 23:00 LT on the same night. Reports of damage at Jabalpur (Friend of India. 1866. June 1–June 4) could not be verified in this study.
Tremors were strongly felt at Sylhet in Bangladesh shaking furniture and lasting 30 seconds (Leonard, 1868). It was widely felt in Bengal and also at Darjeeling (ibid.).
News accounts appearing two weeks apart in the Friend of India were mistakenly listed as two separate events on 31 July and 30 September 1868 in Oldham (1883a). The effects that were reported from Birbhum, Darunda, Hazaribagh as also Manbhum, and attributed to the erroneous 30 September event, appear in the 6 August and 13 August 1868 edition of the same newspaper. This earthquake was felt at approximately 11:30 LT on 31 July and caused minor damage (Leonard, 1868) at Gobindpur and Kundra near modern-day Jamshedpur. It also caused panic at Aynfiaghat and was felt at Barakur (Burrakur), Bagodar and Raniganj (ibid.) as well as the above mentioned places.
Five deaths occurred in the Silchar district of Assam and four deaths at Imphal in Manipur (Oldham, 1883b). Damage occurred in the Silchar region of Assam and extended into the hills of Manipur where the Palace was destroyed (ibid.). Extensive liquefaction occurred in and around Silchar while in Manipur the waters of a lake near Moirang were agitated leaving a red coloration to the water (ibid.). Light damage was also reported from other parts of northeast India as well as from as far as Munger where the Jail developed cracks (ibid.). The earthquake was felt over much of northeast and eastern India, adjacent parts of Burma and as far as Hazaribagh and Patna (ibid.). Energetic seismic seiches were generated in the Brahmaputra at Goalpara and Nowgong by this event (ibid.).
This earthquake was felt in Kalat state but did not cause any damage (West, 1934). Tremors lasting as long as a minute were felt at Kukur, Larkana, Lubdurza, Mehur and Naoshera while at Dadu it was severely felt for 5 minutes (ibid.). Shocks were also experienced at Jacobabad and Thul (ibid.).
Strong tremors were experienced at Vadodara preceded by a loud rumbling noise that was followed by a shaking of the whole house (Srivastava and Ramachandran, 1985). Furniture along with doors and windows rattled and tiles were dislodged from roofs (ibid.). It was also felt at Surat where it was accompanied by an uneasy rolling motion of the ground and shaking of trees (ibid.). Tremors were felt at Amreli, Bardoli, Malegaon, Valsad and as far as Matheran near Mumbai (ibid.).
The first earthquake at approximately 19:15 LT was strongly felt in the districts of Dhubri, Guwahati, Nowgong and Shillong (Anonymous, 1879). It was also felt in the districts of Barpeta, Cachar, Darrang, Goalpara, Tezpur and Tura (ibid.). A second earthquake followed at approximately 22:45 LT and was heavily felt in Goalpara district and was smart in the Shillong district (ibid.). This event was felt in the districts of Barpeta, Darrang, Dhubri, Nowgong, Tezpur and Tura but only very slight in Cachar district (ibid.).
Three people were killed at Lahore (Wynne, 1878). At Abbottabad, the tremors knocked down chimneys and made if difficult to walk (ibid.). Damage was also occurred in other parts of north Punjab such as Attock, Murree and Rawalpindi (ibid.). The earthquake was perceptible as far as Mussourie in Gharwal and Ferozepur in the southern Punjab (ibid.).
Smart and distinct tremors were felt for 8–10 seconds at Camp Urung in Darrang district (Anonymous, 1879). It was also felt in the districts of Dibrugarh, Guwahati, Kamrup, Lakhimpur, Nowgong, Samaguting, Sibsagar and Shillong as well as in the Golaghat and Jorhat subdivision of Sibsagar district (ibid.).
Tremors were felt in the districts of Darrang, Guwahati, Nowgong, Samaguting, Sibsagar and Tezpur (Anonymous, 1879).
This earthquake was very smart and resulted in minor damage in Lakhimpur district while being severely felt in Jaipur district (Anonymous, 1881). It was also felt in the districts of Darrang, Golaghat, Jorhat, Kamrup, Khasi and Jaintia Hills, North Lakhimpur and Sibsagar (ibid.).
A smart shock was felt in the Cachar district (Anonymous, 1881). It was also felt in the districts of Darrang, Garo Hills, Kamrup, Khasi and Jaintia Hills, Nowgong and Sylhet (ibid.).
In the Garo Hills, this earthquake was felt with “considerable violence”, knocking small items off tables and shelves (Anonymous, 1881). In the Naga Hills, it was equally strong, throwing down decanters and other loose items (ibid.). The treasury building developed cracks in the Golaghat subdivision (ibid.). Smart tremors were experienced in the districts of Cachar, Goalpara and Kamrup while it was severe in the district of Darrang as well as in the Karimganj and Mangaldai subdivisions (ibid.). It was also felt in the districts of Jorhat, Khasi Hills, Lakhimpur, Nowgong, Sibsagar and Sylhet (ibid.).
This earthquake damaged settlements on Car Nicobar Island and caused some damage to masonry buildings as far as Port Blair on South Andaman Island (Oldham, 1884). A few huts also “tumbled down” at Haddo and tremors were “very much felt” aboard the I.G.S. Kwang Jung guard ship (Madras Times Overland Mail. 1882. January 1–March 10). The shock was felt throughout Sri Lanka including at Batticaloa, Colombo, Jaffna, Galle, Hambantota, Kandy, Ratnapura and Trimcomalee with minor damage being reported from a few locales (Overland Examiner. 1882. January 1–March 1; Weekly Ceylon Observer. 1882. January 1–January 10). A wall developed cracks at Chennai on Bhadna Garden street (Madras Times Overland Mail. 1882. January 1–March 10). Tremors were felt along the entire length of the Coromandel Coast of India from Kolkata to Chennai as well as at Bengaluru and in parts of Bihar, Kerala and Jharkhand (Madras Times Overland Mail. 1882. January 1–January 10; Weekly Ceylon Observer. 1882. January 1– January 10; Logan, 1887, Madhusudhana Rao, 1966, Oldham, 1884). It was also felt at Banda Aceh in Indonesia, in the Mergui Archipelago in Myanmar and aboard ships near the Nicobar Islands (Oldham, 1884). It might have also been felt as far as Kathmandu in Nepal (ibid.). A mud volcano erupted on Ramree Island near Sittwe, Myanmar during the earthquake (ibid.). A tsunami generated by this event was recorded by tide gauges in the Bay of Bengal (ibid.). Eyewitnesses also noted its occurrence at Colombo, Galle, Hambantota and Trincomalee in Sri Lanka (Madras Overland Times. 1882. January 1–March 10; Weekly Ceylon Observer. 1882. January 1–March 10).
At least 3,000 people were killed in the Kashmir Valley (Jones, 1885a) including 70 at Patan (Lawrence, 1895) and at least 111 in Srinagar (Times. 1885. June 3–July 20). At least 200 persons were buried when a mosque collapsed at Sopor (ibid.). Extensive damage occurred in the western Kashmir Valley including at Baramulla and Srinagar (Civil and Military Gazette. 1885. June 1–June 9). Sand vents and fissures were noted near Baramulla, Dubgaon and Patan while a large landslide buried several structures at Larridur near Baramulla (Jones, 1885b). Tremors were widely felt in the Punjab including at Lahore and the shock was perceptible as far as Gilgit and Shimla (Civil and Military Gazette. 1885. June 1–June 9,Tribune. 1885. May 30–June 13).
At least 75 deaths reported, including 40 at Sherpur, 11 at Azimgunj, 11 at Rajbari, 5 at Bogra, 4 at Govindpur and 4 at Dum Dum (Times. 1885. July 15–July 20). Several deaths also occurred at Dhaka (ibid.). Serious damage occurred at Mymensingh, Nattore, Serajganj and the neighbouring towns in north Bangladesh (ibid.). Damage was also reported from Kolkata where the shock was strong enough to dislodge plaster from walls and sent many people running outdoors (Englishman. 1885. July 15–July 28). The earthquake was widely felt with reports from as far as Chittagong, Chunar, Darjeeling, Giridh and Imphal (Englishman, 1885; Middlemiss, 1885). A seismic seiche was observed in the Hugli at Kolkata (Times. 1885. July 15–July 20).
At least 1,626 people were killed and extensive damage as well as liquefaction occurred in Assam, Meghalaya and West Bengal in India as well as in adjoining parts of Bangladesh (Oldham, 1899, Ambraseys and Bilham, 2003c). Landslides and additional damage occurred in parts of Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim in India as well as in Bhutan and parts of Tibet (ibid.). Based on descriptions of damage and eyewitness accounts (Oldham, 1899) from Attrabari, Rambrai and Shillong we have assigned EMS intensity of 9 to these locations. At Attrabari, people were thrown to the ground and the earth was moving in waves akin to “rollers on the sea coast” that made it difficult to stand while at Shillong, an eyewitness stated, “I was unable to stand, but had to crawl on my hands and knees and hold on to a tree for support” (ibid.). At Rambrai, a 6-foot high Khasia monolith was thrown 6.5 feet from where it originally stood (ibid.). At Shillong, all the masonry and ekra buildings as well as several monuments were demolished (ibid.). Wood frame buildings were either thrown out of plumb or heavily damaged at Tura while well built pukka structures were destroyed at Azimganj, Gauripur and Mymensingh (ibid.). At Muktagacha, all buildings were levelled to the ground and a similar fate was shared by the towns of Attrabari, Durgapur, Gauripur, Kalipur and Ramgopalpur (ibid.). At Muktagacha it was difficult to stand on one“s feet during the earthquake and people had to “cling to the earth.” Elsewhere in Bengal, damage occurred at Baharampur, Bhagalpur, Comillah, Dhaka, Dhubri, Gangtok, Guwahati, Goalpara, Imphal, Murshidabad, Karimganj, Kolkata and Sylhet (ibid.). At Kolkata, the parapets and walls of many buildings collapsed and cracks developed in others such as Statesman House (Times of India. 1897. June 12–June 16). At the Imperial Museum, “thousands of rupees of pottery and artwork were smashed” (ibid.). The upper sections of the spire of Saint Paul“s Cathedral collapsed and the Shahid Minar (Ochterlony Monument) was seen swaying during the earthquake (ibid.). The earthquake was felt over a large part of south Asia, as far as Bago (Pegu), Bengaluru, Dharamsala, Jaipur, Karachi and Vadodara (Oldham, 1899; Times of India. 1897. June 12–June 16). Seismic seiches were reported from water tanks at Ahmedabad in Gujarat as well as in lakes in Burma (ibid.).
At least 20 people were killed at Baharampur and in the nearby Hasanpur (Ashanpore) Thana where it was described as being the “severest since that of the 12th” (Statesman. 1897. June 25). Many of the European residents moved into tents while other inhabitants began living in tents, gardens and the lower stories of their cottages (ibid.). The shock was felt in many parts of Assam and Bengal including at Cooch Behar, Darjeeling, Kolkata and Sylhet as well as at Purnia in Bihar (Englishman. 1897. June 23–June 24; Oldham, 1900). This event has been misplaced at Baharampur in Orissa to the south (Rao and Rao, 1984).
This event is thought to have been the strongest since 2 August 1897 (Oldham, 1900). In Shillong, apart from overturning two of the cylinders of the seismometer, it also broke crockery and brought down some plaster (ibid.). A masonry wall cracked at Latlynkat in the Khasi Hills (ibid.). It was felt widely in north Bengal as well as adjacent parts of Assam (ibid.). It was also reported as being felt in Kolkata although Oldham (1900) doubted this claim.
At least 31 people were killed in Coimbatore district (Hunter et al., 1909). Some buildings collapsed at Adigarbutti, Kandal, Ketti and Kulhatti while others were damaged at Chinchora, Coonoor, Lovedale and Udagamandalam (Basu, 1964; Madras Mail. 1900. February 9–February 14). Damage also occurred at Coimbatore where tiles were displaced and many buildings were damaged including the Church near the station (Basu, 1964). Minor damage occurred at Bengaluru and the clock in the tower of the central jail stopped (Madras Mail. 1900. February 9–February 10). At Mysore, many people were woken up, loose items including roof tiles were displaced and a rumbling like a gun-shot was heard (Basu, 1964). Tremors were felt throughout south India including at Alaphuza, Chennai, Erode, Kozhikode, Madurai, Tirupati and Udupi (Madras Mail. 1900. February 9–February 10; Basu, 1964, Srivastava and Ramachandran, 1985). Tremors were also felt at Colombo in Sri Lanka (Times of India. 1900. February 9–February 14) and even as far as Mumbai (Anonymous, 1900). Eyewitnesses reported a “single flash of light as of meteor or of lightening” at the end of the shock at Bengaluru (Madras Mail. 1900. February 9).
This earthquake was strongly felt at Ongole in Andhra Pradesh causing damage to buildings and resulting in one injury when students rushed out of a school building (Middlemiss, 1910). At Markapur, it was accompanied by a loud rumbling noise and rattled kitchen utensils (ibid.). It was perceptible as far as Chennai (ibid.). Further tremors were felt on 6 April that caused addictional panic in Ongole (ibid.).
More than 20,000 people were killed in this earthquake according to government sources (Kaul, 1912), with others (Baduwi, 1905) placing the figure close to 27,688. The towns of Dharamsala and Kangra were completely destroyed with several adjoining villages (Middlemiss, 1910). Middlemiss (1910) used the terms “cracked”, “rent” and “fissured” in described minor damage, “ruined” to describe “the loss of a roof with many walls standing” and “destroyed” to describe “only portions of walls standing.” He further used “Levelled with the ground” to indicate that nothing was left standing. This study has based EMS intensity assignments for this event based on all available information and not on the descriptive terms alone. On the route from Shahpur to Dharamsala, Middlemiss (1910) passed the villages of Chari, Dhanoti, Dudhamb, Nerti and before arriving in Dharamsala. Nerti was completely “destroyed” with all the upper floors “gone” and most of the lower stories as well (ibid.). The villages of Dhanoti and Dudhamb appeared worse off in appearance while at Chari, only two heavily “ruined” buildings remained standing (ibid.). Heavy, solidly build structures including the Treasury, the Municipal Dispepnsary and the Kangra Bhavan (Golden Temple) were destroyed with most other buildings at Kangra (ibid.). In the Dharamsala Cantonment, an eyewitness was “thrown to the ground” by the shock and many well built structures such as the Barracks were demolished or heavily damaged like the Armoury (ibid.). Bhawarna and Daulatpur near Palampur as well as the village of Kugti (Kukti) in the valley of the Ravi were completely “destroyed” (ibid.). Damage extended into Kashmir, Kinnaur and north Punjab (Tribune. 1905. April 8–August 19; Baduwi, 1905, Middlemiss, 1910). Damage was reported from Amritsar, Dehradun, Jammu, Jallandhar, Mussourie, Lahore, Roorkee, Shimla, Sialkot and even as far as Delhi (ibid.). Between 50-100 deaths occurred at Lahore (Tribune. 1905. April 8–August 19). At Shimla, Lady Curzon, had a narrow escape when a chimney fell through the roof in the room above her at the Viceregal Lodge (Englishman. 1905. April 5–April 20). The earthquake was felt in much of the northern subcontinent extending as far south as the northern Deccan as well as into Bengal (Middlemiss, 1910). An energetic seismic seiche in the Tawi swept away three women at Jammu (Tribune. 1905. April 8–August 19). Seismic seiches were reported from locations in Assam, Bengal, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh (ibid.). At Jwalamukhi, a flame of natural gas at the Jwalaji Temple, ceased to burn a week prior to the earthquake and goats were sacrificed as this was seen as a sign of the goddess“s anger (Tribune. 1905. April 8–August 19). Two days prior to the earthquake, the flames increased to a height of a yard and just before the earthquake, the flames are alleged to have increased to a height of 3-4 yards (ibid.). Damage in the Gharwal region is possibly connected with a separate earthquake that is known to have occurred within minutes of the earthquake near Kangra (Hough et al., 2005).
Several buildings were destroyed or damaged, 26 people killed and more than 40 injured in the Saraj tehsil and at Rampur (Middlemiss, 1910). Minor damage occurred at Ludhiana, Kangra, Palampur and Shimla (ibid.). This earthquake was felt in adjacent parts of Himachal Pradesh and well as in much of Punjab and as far as Agra, Delhi, Jaipur and Roorkee (ibid.).
This earthquake was smartly felt at Bijnor, Dehradun, Delhi, Mussourie and Roorkee (Middlemiss, 1910). It was also felt at Jaipur, Lahore and Shimla (ibid.).
This earthquake was severely felt at Bajaura, Naggar and in the Kullu Valley causing everyone to run out alarmed (Middlemiss, 1910). It was also severely felt at Shimla and described as the severest since 27 February 1906 (ibid.). The Imperial Secretariat Buildings on Gorton Hill were slightly damaged and many spent the night outdoors (ibid.). One person was injured as he, along with other spectators at a Boxing Tournament being held in the Town Hall, scrambled outdoors for safety (Madras Mail. 1906. June 25). Tremors were also felt in parts of north India including at Dehradun and Meerut (ibid.).
This event was very severely felt at Kangra (Middlemiss, 1910). It was also strongly felt at Bajaura, Dalhousie, Lahore, Ludhiana and Rawalpindi in north Punjab as well as far as Delhi (ibid.).
The roof of a veranda collapsed at Ranaghat in Nadia district and slight damage was reported from Baharampur, Chinsurah, Ichaganj, Mirbir and Santipur in Bengal (Middlemiss, 1908). In Kolkata, several buildings developed cracks including the Writer“s Building, the Imperial Museum, the High Court building, the Police Stations at Ballygunge, Garden Reach and Watgunge, the Medical College Hospital and Presidency College (ibid.). Tremors were widely felt in Bengal, in adjacent parts of Assam and even as far as Cuttack and Sittwe (Amrita Bazaar Patrika. 1906. October 1).
At least 214 people were killed in the towns of Bagh, Bellpat, Muradwa and Shahpur in Balochistan (Heron, 1911). Based on descriptions of the damage at Shahpur in Heron (1911) an EMS intensity of 8 was assigned to that location. Tremors were also felt at Dadu, Kalat, Khuzdar, Mithri, Nushki and Quetta in Balochistan (ibid.). It was also felt as far as Dera Ismail Khan and Multan (ibid.) as well as in northern Sindh (Ambraseys and Bilham, 2003b).
Damage occurred to masonry structures at Mandalay, Maymyo, Meiktila, Mogok and Taunggyi (Brown, 1914). Tremors were felt as far as Kengtung and Yangon in Myanmar, Ssumao in China“s Yunnan province and at Bangkok and Chiang Rai in Thailand (ibid.). Seismic seiches were observed in oil tanks at the Seikkyi refineries in Myanmar (ibid.). Tremors are believed to have been felt as far as Kolkata (Statesman. 1918. July 9–July 24).
Damage occurred at Bhera, Sargodha and Shahpur in Punjab while severe tremors were experienced at Amritsar for nearly a minute (Tribune. 1915. March 10–March 11). At Jhelum, people ran outdoors in panic (Civil and Military Gazette. 1915. March 5). Tremors were also felt at Lahore and as far as Delhi (ibid.).
All houses are said to have collapsed at Dharchula (Tandon and Srivastava, 1974). One person was killed at Ranibagh and minor damage was reported from Naini Tal (Pioneer. 1916. September 7). Sat Tal was violently agitated and a sulphurous smell was noticed by persons boating on the Naini Tal lake as shells floated to the surface (ibid.). Tremors were felt strongly in much of northern subcontinent including at Ambala, Amritsar, Dehradun, Delhi, Lahore, Lucknow, Shimla and Srinagar (Gharwali. 1916. September 2–September 30; Tribune. 1916. August 29–August 31).
At least 2 people were killed and many injured in the Kangra-Dharamsala region (Civil and Military Gazette. 1917. May 11–May 13). Damage was greatest at Sidbar but was also reported to a lesser extent from Upper Dharamsala and Palampur (ibid.). The shock was strongly felt as far as Amritsar and Lahore at approximately 03:20 LT (ibid.).
At least 9 people were killed and many injured by this earthquake in Bangladesh and adjoining parts of Assam, India (The Statesman. 1918. July 9–July 24). Extensive damage occurred in towns and tea plantations along the Bangladesh-Tripura border most notably in the Balisera Valley near Srimongal (Stuart, 1920). EMS intensities 8 to 9 were assigned based on the descriptions of damage by Stuart (1920) to towns in the Balisera Valley. The earthquake was strongly felt throughout Bangladesh and caused damage to buildings at Dhaka and Sylhet (The Statesman, 1918). Damage also occurred in adjacent parts of Assam and Tripura in India (Stuart, 1920). The earthquake was felt throughout Bengal including Kolkata where there was considerable panic, as well as in Bihar, northeast India and parts of Burma as well as at Kathmandu (Englishman. 1918. July 9–August 1, Statesman. 1918. July 9–July 24).
At least 50 people were killed in the Mymensingh district in northern Bangladesh (Anonymous, 1923). Damage occurred at Mymensingh and to a lesser extent at Agartala, Guwahati and Kolkata (Englishman. 1923. September 10–September 15). Tremors were felt throughout Bengal as well as in Bihar, northeast India, parts of Burma and southern Tibet (Englishman. 1923. September 10–September 15; Ambraseys and Douglas, 2004, Ramachandran and Srivastava, 1991).
Tremors were felt strongly at Dhobi Talao, Grant Road, Fort, Mahalaxmi and Tardeo in south Mumbai and at Andheri, Bandra and Dadar in suburban Mumbai (Dyanaprakash. 1924. January 19). At many places, people were frightened awake, electric fans shook and windows rattled (ibid.). It was also felt at Marine Lines and along Marine Drive (Queen“s Road) in South Mumbai and at Palghar (Ramachandran and Srivastava, 1991). As far as Surat in Gujarat, doors and windows rattled and glasses jingled (ibid.).
At least 1 person was killed in a house collapse in Kanpur (Vartman. 1927. June 5–June 9; Times of India. 1927. June 4–June 6). Minor damage occurred at Gaya in Bihar, Khairagarh in Chhattisgarh and at Allahabad and Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh (Behar Herald. 1927. June 4; Hitavada. 1927. June 9; Leader. 1927. June 5). It was widely felt in eastern and parts of central India including at Achalpur, Bemetaria, Chhindwara, Jabalpur and Nagpur (Hitavada. 1927. June 9; Leader. 1927. June 5). In Kolkata people ran outdoors in panic (Statesman. 1927. June 5).
At least 500 people were killed in this earthquake in the town of Pegu (Bago) and its environs (Brown et al., 1931). At Thongwa, people were thrown to the ground and heavy almirahs were overturned (ibid). Eight out of eleven masonry buildings were damaged, some collapsing into “heaps of debris”, and the posts of wooden buildings were “smashed and pushed out of positio” (ibid). At Onhne, at heavy safe fell off its stand and was thrown over a distance of 8-feet (ibid). Elsewhere a truck loaded with 150 bags of rice was overturned and an eyewitness said the earth rolled “up and down and from side to side as if I were in a small boat on a rough sea” (ibid). The spire of Shwemawdaw Pagoda collapsed at Bago (ibid). Although well built structures such as the Municipal Building completely collapsed others such as the Jail and the Court House escaped (ibid). A fire engulfed the Bazaar area following the earthquake (ibid). At Syriam, some people were thrown to the ground but most found it difficult to stand while at Kayan many masonry building were badly “shattered” and the Court House completely collapsed (ibid). Liquefaction occurred at Kayan amf Thongwa while lateral spreading was observed along the rivers at Bago and near Kyauktaun (ibid). Serious damage also occurred at Kawa, Kayan, Kyauktan, Payagyi, Syriam, Tawa and in southern parts of the city of Yangon (ibid). This earthquake was strongly felt in southern Myanmar, in particular around the region of the Gulf of Martaban as well as in the southern valleys of the Irrawady and Sagaing rivers (ibid). Tremors were also felt strongly at Chiang Mai in north-west Thailand and in the capital, Bangkok, where it was strong enough to shake parked automobiles and crack buildings (ibid). In Thailand, it was felt as far south as Chumphon and Korat (ibid).
One person was killed at Bishalpur in Bangladesh (Gee, 1934). Damage was not widespread though serious at places such as Cooch Behar, Dhubri, Lalmonirhat, Nilphamari and Tura near the epicentre (ibid.). An EMS intensity of 8 was assigned to Dhubri based on the descriptions of damage in Gee (1934). The earthquake was felt widely in Bengal, including at Kolkata where it caused considerable panic, as well as in Bihar and much of northeast India (Statesman. 1930. July 4–July 8). It was also felt at Kathmandu (Gee, 1934). Seismic seiches were generated in the Brahmaputra near Amingaon and Pandu in Assam, rocking vessels “alarmingly” (Statesman. 1930. July 4–July 8).
Minor damage occurred at Digboi, Namrup and in other parts of Upper Assam (Gee, 1934). It was felt at many places in Bangladesh, eastern and northeastern India including as far as Kolkata in West Bengal (ibid.).
A wall collapsed at Kapadia market in Matheran (Times of India. 1933. July 18). There was panic in the bazaar and people fled to the municipal stables until daybreak (ibid.). A kitchen in a four-story building at Tardeo in South Mumbai was damaged but no one was hurt (Dyanaprakash. 1933. July 18–July 20). Elsewhere in the city, it was felt at Andheri, Bandra, Malad and Santa Cruz in suburban Mumbai (ibid.). In one instance, crockery was broken in the suburb of Andheri (Times of India, 1933). Many people ran outdoors and began praying and furniture was upset in hundreds of houses (ibid.). Tremors were felt in much of Pune where doors and windows rattled and people ran outdoors (Dyanaprakash. 1933. July 18–July 20). This tremor was also felt at Lonavala, Nashik and Kalyan (Dyanaprakash. 1933. July 18–July 20; Times of India. 1933. July 18)
Tremors were felt (MM V) for nearly a minute at Sivakasi (Ramachandran and Srivastava, 1991). Some walls collapsed and people rushed out onto the streets in panic; some sleeping persons were thrown off their cots (ibid.). It was also felt at Koilpatti, Sattur, Srivilliputur and Virudhunagar (Madras Mail. 1934. January 11–January 15).
At least 8,519 people were killed in Nepal (Pandey and Molnar, 1988) along with 7,253 deaths in adjoining parts of India (Dunn et al., 1939). EMS intensities of 9 were assigned to Bagmati, Harisidhi and Khokna where destruction was “100 per cent” and such that “streets and alley-ways were completely blocked and their former alignments were often impossible to discern” (Dunn et al., 1939). About 70% of the town of Bhatgaon was destroyed (ibid.). Molnar (1988) interpreted the phrase “reduced to hell” to mean complete destruction from Rana (1935) who used it when detailing the destruction of private houses, a granary, a government storehouse, as well as all the houses in a villages. This study assigns EMS 9 to this term along with brief descriptions of damage from Bhojpur and Namche Bazaar. Extensive damage and landslides occurred in the mountains of eastern Nepal including at Biratnagar, Namche Bazaar, Kathmandu and Patan (Pandey and Molnar, 1988). Serious damage and widespread liquefaction occurred in parts of Bihar, India, including at Laheria Serai, Motihari, Munger, Muzaffarpur and Samastipur (Dunn et al., 1939). Minor damage also occurred in the adjoining Indian states of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Orissa, Sikkim, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh (ibid.). Damage was reported from several important cities and towns in the region such as Allahabad, Darjeeling, Gaya, Gorakhpur, Hazaribagh, Kanpur, Kathmandu, Lucknow, Patna, Ranchi, Raniganj and Varanasi (ibid.). The earthquake was felt throughout the subcontinent as far as Barmer, Chittagong, Lahore, Khairpur, Mumbai, Surat, Vishakhapatnam and Tiruvottiur as well as in parts of China and Burma (ibid.). Seismic seiches were generated by this earthquake in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra (ibid.) and as far as Kerala, where boats capsized on Lake Vembanad (Statesman. 1934. January 16–January 30). The temperature of hot springs at Anhoni near Mahuljhir in Madhya Pradesh and Sohna in Haryana are also thought to have risen (Dunn et al., 1939).
This aftershock occurred at approximately 04:59 UTC and was felt throughout Bihar and in adjoining parts of Uttar Pradesh (The Statesman. 1934. January 16–January 30; The Times of India. 1934. January 16–January 17). Damage sustained by the General Post and Telegraph office in Patna in the 15 January earthquake was seriously worsened by this aftershock (ibid.). Slight damage also occurred at Bodh Gaya and Dehri-on-Sone (ibid.). At Mirzapur, part of a high school collapsed and other buildings were damaged (ibid.). There was panic in Arrah and people rushed outdoors (ibid.).
This aftershock at approximately 18:49 UTC was felt throughout Bihar and adjoining parts of Uttar Pradesh felt (The Statesman. 1934. January 21). At Patna, people were woken up and ran outdoors in panic while buildings damaged in the 15 January mainshock and subsequent aftershocks collapsed (ibid.). At Muzaffarpur, the Telegraph office was slightly damaged and people panicked, stampeding outdoors (ibid.). This aftershock was felt widely in Bihar, Bengal and northeast India including as far as Jabalpur in central India (Statesman. 1934. January 21).
This aftershock was felt at Muzaffarpur lasting 5 seconds (Ramachandran and Srivastava, 1991). People were woken up from their sleep and rushed outdoors terror-stricken (ibid.). Several damaged walls collapsed (ibid.). A shock of “great intensity” was felt at Darbhanga (Dunn et al., 1939). Cracks opened in houses and a few mud walls collapsed (ibid.). It was also felt at Chapra, Munger, Patna and Riga (ibid.).
This aftershock was felt at Lakheriserai and at Muzaffarpur (Ramachandran and Srivastava, 1991). At Lakheriserai, some houses were damaged and people were frightened by the 10 second shock that was also accompanied by a rumbling sound (ibid.). At Muzaffarpur people ran outside for safety (Ramachandran and Srivastava, 1991). At Darbhanga, a shock of “high intensity” was felt (Dunn et al., 1939). Cracks developed in buildings and a few collapsed (ibid.). It was also felt at Gaya, Jalpaiguri, Madhepur, Patna, Sitamarhi and Sonepur (ibid.).
One person was buried alive but later rescued when a building near the Railway station collapsed at Ambala (Hindustan Times. 1935. March 7–March 9). Minor damage occurred at Almora, Bareilly and Moradabad; 4 people injured at Bareilly (ibid.). This earthquake was strongly felt at Dehradun, Delhi, Ghaziabad, Meerut, Muzaffarpur and Saharanpur (ibid.). It was also felt at Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh (ibid.).
This earthquake was felt throughout Bengal and caused some damage at Baharampur in West Bengal (Statesman. 1935. March 22). It was strongly felt at Krishnanagar and Kolkata; plaster fell from some buildings in Kolkata (ibid.). It was widely felt in lower Assam, Bengal, Bihar and parts of North-East India (ibid.).
Two people killed at Aliganj in a wall collapse (Dunn et al., 1939) and some people were injured in stampedes at Bhagalpur and Muzaffarpur (Times of India. 1936. February 12–February 13). At Dholi, the railway station and platform were damaged (Dunn et al., 1939). The earthquake was felt strongly at Bhagalpur, Darjeeling, Dumka, Muzaffarpur and Patna as well as by a few people at Kolkata (ibid.).
Five persons were injured after being thrown off a roof at Bareilly (Hindustan Times. 1936. May 28–May 30). Minor damage occurred at Gaya, Kanpur, Lucknow, Motihari and Patna (Hindustan Times. 1936. May 28–May 30; Times of India. 1936. May 28–May 29). This earthquake was strongly felt at Bareilly, Delhi, Kanpur, Kathmandu, Lucknow, Moradabad, Patna and Varanasi (ibid.). It was felt (MM IV) at Patna and Siwan in Bihar (Ramachandran and Srivastava, 1991). Three persons were killed at Lucknow when a wall damaged in the earthquake collapsed later in the day (Hindustan Times. 1936. May 28–May 30).
Several chimneys collapsed and houses developed cracks at Shimla (Hindustan Times. 1937. October 21–October 23). Minor damage was also reported from Kapurthala (ibid.). Tremors were strongly felt at Amritsar, Dehradun, Kasauli, Mussourie, Panchkula (Hindustan Times. 1937. October 21–October 23; Times of India. 1937. October 21). It was also felt at Srinagar (Indian Meteorological Department, 1937) as well as at Delhi and Lahore (Hindustan Times. 1937. October 21–October 23; Times of India. 1937. October 21).
There was considerable loss to property at Chitral and Drosh, the fort in this region being damaged (Coulson, 1938). Many buildings were damaged in Rawalpindi and many collapsed in the suburbs (ibid.). Buildings were also damaged at Peshawar and a number of people were injured by falling bricks (ibid.). Some buildings were damaged and a few people were hurt by falling debris at Chitral and Srinagar (Ramanathan, 1937). Slight damage also occurred at Abbottabad (Anonymous, 1937) and at Lahore (Coulson, 1938). The earthquake temporarily disrupted a cricket test match between India XI and Tennyson“s XI at the Gymkhana in Lahore (Times of India. 1937. November 15). The earthquake felt in much of the northern subcontinent including as far as Bhawalpur, Delhi and Bikaner (Coulson, 1938; Times of India. 1937. November 15).
One person was hurt at Vasadi and two at Davapura in Nadiad taluka but no fatalities were reported (Indian Meteorological Department, 1938b; Maharashtra. 1938. March 16–March 20). Three houses collapsed at Vasadi in Buldana district (Maharashtra. 1938. March 16–March 20). At Maheshwar, a few houses collapsed and the wall of the fort cracked (Indian Meteorological Department, 1938b). Isolated wall collapses were also reported from at Achalpur, Akola, Nandurbar (Maharashtra. 1938. March 16-March 20). At Bhusawal, many buildings including the Coronation Club, the telegraph office and a maternity home developed cracks (Times of India. 1938. March 15). Minor damage was reported from Chopda, Depalpur, Edalabad, Erandol, Godhra, Jagoti, Manpur, Mansi, Nashik, Khandwa, Rawer, Tarana and Warud as well as at Davapura in Nadiad taluka were two children where injured when a mud house “fell” (Anonymous, 1938, Anonymous, 1939a; Kesari. 1938. March 15-March 18; Times of India. 1938. March 15; Anonymous, 1939b, Indian Meteorological Department, 1938b). This earthquake was strongly felt at Ahmedabad, Indore, Malkapur, Mumbai, Nagpur, Pune, Surat and Vadodara (Hindustan Times. 1938. March 15; Maharashtra. 1938. March 16–March 20; Times of India. 1938. March 15). At Vadodara, the rattling of corrugated roof sheets were initially mistaken for monkeys jumping about and people rushed to scare them aware (Hindustan Times. 1938. March 15). In Pune, flowerpots were knocked down into open courtyards while at Narayan and Shaniwar Peths there was a “general stampede” for the open (Statesman. 1938. March 15). Tremors were felt over a wide swathe of India as far as Agra, Ajmer, Allahabad, Barmer, Belgaum, Deesa, Delhi, Gwalior, Jaipur and parts of Hyderabad state (ibid.). A hot spring near Chopda, Madhya Pradesh disappeared after the quake (Mukherjee, 1942).
Buildings were damaged in Upper Burma (Indian Meteorological Department, 1938a). In many parts of Assam (ibid.) and at Purnia in Bihar, where it was severe, panic-stricken people ran outdoors and some buildings developed cracks (Statesman. 1938. April 15–April 16). Tremors were also felt in many parts of Bengal, Bihar and southern Tibet (Indian Meteorological Department, 1938b).
This was the strongest event in an earthquake swarm in July 1938 and caused damage at Paliad (Crookshank, 1938). It was felt widely in Kathiawar and as far as Rajkot (ibid.).
Three people were injured, one each at Kalutara in Sri Lanka and at Virudhunagar and Periyakulam near Tuticorin respectively (Ceylon Observer. 1938. September 12; Madras Mail. 1938. September 11–September 15). This earthquake was widely felt in Sri Lanka including at Colombo, Galle, Kandy, Matara and Trincomalee (Ceylon Observer. 1938. September 12; Ceylon Daily News. 1938. September 12; Times of Ceylon. 1938. September 12). Minor damage was reported from Tiriwanaketiya, glassware was broken at Bandarewala and loose objects were thrown down at Kesbewa and Udahamulla (ibid.). The seismograph at the observatory in Colombo was thrown out of action by the shock (Fernando and Kulasinghe, 1986). In south India, it was felt at many places including at Alwaye, Coonoor, Kodaikanal, Kottayam, Madurai, Nagercoil, Thiruvananthapuram, Trichinopoly and Tuticorin (Ramachandran and Srivastava, 1991; Madras Mail. 1938. September 11–September 15). Minor damage occurred at Dindigul as well as at Thittuvilla near Nagercoil while at Virudhunagar photos fell from walls (ibid.). Shocks were also felt by ships at sea in the Gulf of Mannar (Ceylon Daily News. 1938. September 12).
At least four people were killed and four seriously injured due to this earthquake (Indian Meteorological Department, 1941). Masonry buildings were badly damaged at Port Blair on South Andaman Island (SANE, 2002). The Nicobar Islands experienced a slight shock while North Andaman was slightly affected (Indian Meteorological Department, 1941). Tremors were felt along the entire Coromandel Coast of India including at Chennai, Cuttack, Kolkata and Visakhapatnam as well as in parts of Bengal (Jhingran, 1953; Hindu. 1941. June 27; Times of India. 1941. June 27). It was also felt at Yangon in Myanmar, at Colombo in Sri Lanka (ibid.) and in an isolated instance, in Mumbai (Hindu. 1941. June 27). From descriptions of damage to the natural environment by Jhingran (1953) the effects of a local tsunami might be inferred on the western shores of the Andaman Islands although a seismological bulletin (Indian Meteorological Department, 1941) clearly states “No tidal wave was experienced.” Murthy and Rafiq (1991) list several thousand deaths on the east coast of India due to a tsunami attributed to this earthquake but this study did not find any evidence to support this assertion.
This earthquake was widely felt in eastern and northeast India including at Darjeeling, Hazaribagh, Patna, Kolkata and Shillong (Statesman. 1943. October 24–October 25). It was also felt in much of Bengal, at Kathmandu in Nepal, in southern Tibet and in parts of Burma (Ambraseys and Douglas, 2004). The events of World War II including censorship and the location of the Japanese frontline on the eastern borders of India, limited information on this earthquake but a first-hand account is available from near Dimapur (D. Warr, personal communication, 2001).“At the time I was with a medical unit stationed on the Manipur road, seven miles from Dimapur. I was awakened in the night by violent shaking - so violent that I found myself clinging desperately to the charpoy to avoid being shaken off. There was a rumbling noise. I don“t know how long it lasted - perhaps a few minutes - and then it subsided to occasional slight tremors. In the morning we discovered that there were fissures and great unevenness in what had previously been level ground, trees had fallen and buildings had been damaged. There was some damage to the Manipur road, I think to the bridges on either side of my unit, but for security reasons a complete ban was imposed on the mention of any consequences of the quake so we never heard precise details. Of course, rumour was rife and we heard lurid accounts of fissures that had opened and swallowed men and vehicles but these were never substantiated and may have been figments of somebody“s imagination. We shall never know” — Doug Warr, 2001.
This earthquake was felt strongly at Madurai where bottles fell off shelves at a hospital in the city, vessels in houses fell down and doors opened themselves (Ramachandran and Srivastava, 1991). At Coonoor, it was felt for 30 seconds, rattling doors and windows (ibid.). It was also felt at many places in Sri Lanka including at Colombo, Galle, Nawalapitiya, Nuwara Eilya, Ratnapura and Talawakele (Ceylon Observer. 1944. March 1; Times of Ceylon. 1944. March 1–March 3). The effects of this earthquake in the Maldive Islands, if any, are unknown (Abdulla Algeen, personal communication, 2005).
This earthquake was strongly felt at Bareilly, Delhi and Hapur (Times of India. 1945. June 5–June 6). It was also felt at many other places in north India such as Dehradun, Lucknow, Meerut and Shimla (Hindustan Times. 1945. June 5; Times of India. 1945. June 5).
Tremors were felt strongly in Assam and north Bengal as far as Kolkata (The Statesman. 1947. July 31). Buildings developed cracks at Dibrugarh, Jorhat and Tezpur (Indian Meteorological Department, 1947). The power supply was disrupted at Guwahati (ibid.). Liquefaction and seismic seiches were reported from Jorhat (ibid.).
Nearly 1,526 people were killed in India (Poddar, 1953) and 3,300 in adjoining parts of China (Dongtao et al., 2004, Zhenheng, 1996). Damage to property was extensive in southern Tibet where it is believed 45,000 houses were destroyed (Chen, 1982, Zhenheng, 1996). In adjoining parts of India, the worst damage was at Denning, Dibrugarh, Dimapur, Hell“s Gate, Jaipur, Jorhat, Lumding, North Lakhimpur, Sadiya, Sibsagar, Talap and Tinsukia (Poddar, 1953). Based on descriptions of damage and eyewitness accounts (Chen, 1982, Poddar, 1953) from Tibet and northeast India EMS intensities of 8 were assigned to Denning, Gyigang, Medog, Ratanpur, Rima, Sadiya, Talap, Xia and Xiaguo. The mainshock lasted 570 seconds at Khowang and 540 seconds at Dibrugarh in Assam (Indian Meteorological Department, 1950). Extensive liquefaction was observed in many parts of the upper Brahmaputra basin (Poddar, 1953). Landslides and avalanches were abundant in the Abor and Mishmi hills in India and in southern Tibet (Chen, 1982, Poddar, 1953) resulting in the formation of landslide lakes on several rivers including the Dihang, Lohit and Subansiri; on 19 August, the latter broke through the newly formed barrier resulting in flash floods downstream claiming at least 500 lives (Gee, 1952). The earthquake was strongly felt throughout northeast India and caused panic as far as Darjeeling, Kolkata and Shillong (Times of India. 1950. August 17–September 14; Indrajit Barua, personal communication, 2005). It was also felt in many parts of the subcontinent including as far as Jhalod in western India (Times of India. 1950. August 17–September 14). Seismic seiches were observed in many parts of the Gangetic plains and Myanmar (Mukherjee, 1955) as well as in fiords and lakes as in Norway and the United Kingdom (Kvale, 1955).
This event at approximately 15:00 UTC was felt for 300 seconds at Langharajan Tea Estate and 240 seconds at Tezpur in Assam (Indian Meteorological Department, 1950). It was also felt strongly in much of Assam and as far as Darjeeling and Lhasa (ibid.).
Tremors were felt strongly in many parts of Mumbai causing widespread panic (Times of India. 1951. June 9). Strong tremors were also felt at the lighthouse at Jaigarh but did not result in any damage to the structure or navigational aids (Balasundaram et al., 1968). Tremors were felt along the Konkan Coast and in southern Gujarat (Kesari. 1951. April 10; Kesari. 1967. December 12–December 31). At Bhyander and Vasai, utensils fell down (Kesari. 1967. December 12–December 31). The highest intensity assigned to this earthquake based on first-hand accounts is much lower i.e., EMS 5 as compared to much higher values (MM VIII) quoted by Sinha and Adarsh (1999).
Many people were killed and the villages of Malezan, Mehtar, Wadhan and Zikra in Balochistan were “ruined” (Ambraseys and Bilham, 2003b). It was strongly felt at Loralai and Zhob in as well as in the Indus Valley where it caused slumps and lateral spreads (ibid.). It was also felt at Multan and Quetta (ibid.).
Tremors were felt in Changanacheri, Minachel and Pirmed talukas of Kottayam district (Karunakaran and Mahadevan, 1971). It was also felt on Bloghat and Thevara islands near Ernakulam where doors and windows rattled and many were woken up (Ramachandran and Srivastava, 1991). Tremors were also felt at Tirunelveli for about 30 seconds, rattling windows and doors and in some instances people were thrown from their beds (ibid.). Elsewhere it was felt in the Peermedu Hills as well as at Madurai and Thiruvananthanpuram (ibid.).
Minor damage occurred at Kanpur and Varanasi (Hindustan Times. 1953. August 30; Indian Meteorological Department (1953). Tremors were strongly felt at Gorakhpur, Kathmandu, Muzaffarpur and Patna (ibid.). It was also felt at other places in north India including at Allahabad, Bhagalpur, Delhi, Gaya and Lucknow (ibid.).
Ten people were killed and fifty injured in villages to the north of Quetta (Ambraseys and Bilham, 2003b). Serious damage occurred in a small region to the north of Quetta including the villages of Chashma, Sarantangi and Sragurgi; buildings at these places were already damaged by a strong foreshock on 12 February 1955 (ibid.). Damage also extended to Quetta while elsewhere in the region, the quake was strongly felt at Chaman (ibid.). An EMS intensity of 8 was assigned to Baladhaka based on the descriptions of damage in (Ambraseys and Bilham, 2003b).
One hundred and fifteen people were killed and nearly three thousand were injured in this earthquake (Times of India. 1956. July 22–July 30). Most buildings collapsed at Dhamadka while the villages of Jhuran, Khirsa and Rapur were “wiped out” (ibid.). Extensive damage occurred at Dhamadka, Jhuran, Khirasa and Rapur with damage extending to a lesser extent to Adipur, Anjar, Bhachau and Ratnal (Tandon, 1959). A railway embankment was damaged at Kandla (ibid.) and a goods train derailed on the Palampur-Gandhidham section of the Western Railway line (Times of India. 1956. July 22–July 30). Dams at Lotianala and Jhuran developed cracks (Tandon, 1959). Tremors were felt throughout Gujarat and as far as suburban Mumbai (Times of India. 1956. July 22–July 30).
This earthquake caused 4 deaths in Bulandshahr, 1 at Bareilly and several injuries at Khurja (Hindustan Times. 1956. October 11–October 13). There was extensive damage to buildings, exacerbated by heavy rains, at Bulandshahr and Khurja with isolated building collapses occurring at Bareilly, Delhi and Ghaziabad (ibid.). In the Delhi metropolitan area, buildings collapsed at Bagh Khere Khan, Katcha Natwan, Keshabpura in Kedara, Motinagar, Paharganj, Siddhipura near Model Colony, Serai Murtazan and at Gali Bajrang Bali in Sita Ram Bazaar (ibid.). The shock shook chandeliers at Rashtrapati Bhavan momentarily disrupted an official dinner for a Chilean delegation hosted by President Rajendra Prasad (Times of India. 1956. October 11–October 12). The earthquake was felt strongly throughout north India including at Ambala, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Dehradun, Kanpur and Patiala (Hindustan Times. 1956. October 11–October 13; Times of India. 1956. October 11–October 12).
Tremors were felt for 4 seconds at Bengaluru resulting in unrest among the citizens (Ramachandran and Srivastava, 1991). In the city it, rattled doors and windows as well as shook furniture (ibid.). Tremors were also felt at Dharampuri, Palakkodu and Tirupati (ibid.).
Some buildings were damaged at Ongole including a church while several mud houses collapsed in the taluka (Hindu. 1959. October 14). At Chirala and Tenali, people in cinemas ran outdoors in panic (ibid.). Tremors were felt in several parts of the Krishna-Godavari basin including at Anantapur, Guntur, Hyderabad and Vijayawada (Madhusudhana Rao, 1966).
Two people were killed and one hundred hurt in the Delhi-Gurgaon region (Hindustan Times. 1960. August 28–August 30). Significant damage occurred at Delhi Cantonment, Gurgaon, Palam and in villages between Gurgaon and Delhi (Nath et al., 1968). Elsewhere in Delhi, several buildings developed cracks including Kotla Gumbaj, Rashtrapati Bhavan, Red Fort and the Ashoka Hotel (ibid.). This earthquake was felt in many parts of north India including at Ghaziabad, Jaipur, Kanpur and Meerut (Times of India. 1960. August 28–August 31).
Strong tremors were felt at Almora, Joshimath, Mukteshwar and Tehri in Uttarakhand and also by a few persons in Delhi (Tandon, 1963).
One death occurred at Debipur and three at Abasbadi near Nandigram (Jhingran et al., 1969). Old and dilapidated buildings collapsed on Fraserganj Island while at Namkhana, tiles were dislodged from buildings (ibid.). Minor damage extended to other places in the Sunderbans such as Diamond Harbour, Digha and even as far north as Kolkata (ibid.). Seismic seiches were observed in ponds and tanks in Diamond Harbour, Mahishadal and Saugor Island following the quake and lasted for more than 30 minutes (ibid.). Variations in tide heights following the earthquake was also recorded at Beguakhali, Digha, Gangasagar, Junput and Kachuberia (ibid.).
This earthquake was severely felt in north Bengal as well as in parts of Assam and Bihar (Times of India. 1965. January 13–January 15). At Gangtok it was felt for 30 seconds and was followed by another tremor within 25 minutes (ibid.). One woman died and two persons were injured at Munger when kerosene in a lamp spilled and caught fire during the tremors (ibid.).
Five people were killed in a landslide at Jhundran village in the Loralai district (Pakistan Times. 1966. February 8–February 11). Nine people were killed in house collapses in the Barkhan area (ibid.). As many as 4,860 buildings were destroyed in villages in the area, including at Baladhaka, Naharkot and Vitakri (Ambraseys and Bilham, 2003b). Tremors were felt across much of western Punjab (ibid.) and in Balochistan Tandon (1966). The first earthquake at 04:26 UTC was followed by another event at 23:06 UTC that was also felt over much the same region without causing further damage (ibid.).
Seven people were killed, twenty five were injured and as many as one thousand, three hundred buildings collapsed in the Duki tehsil, including in the villages of Duki, Gambaaz, Ismail Sehar, Jehangir Sehar, Thal and Yaroo Sehar, (Pakistan Times. 1966. August 1–August 8). Fifty houses were also destroyed in the tehsils of Kahlu and Harnai (ibid.). Tremors were felt at Quetta and Ziarat (ibid.). A goods train derailed in the earthquake, at Babar Kutch on the Harnai-Sibi Railway (ibid.). New springs emerged after the earthquake near Ismail Sehar (ibid.).
Thirty people were injured at Moradabad in this earthquake (Times of India. 1966. August 16–August 17) and many buildings including the Police Outpost “crashed” while other buildings were damaged (ibid.). Damage also occurred at Bareilly (ibid.). Tremors were felt in Gharwal and in the Gangetic plains as well as far as the Kashmir Valley (ibid.). Within minutes of the earthquake, there were building collapses at Dharampura, Hari Nagar and Paharganj in Delhi, resulting in 17 deaths (ibid.).
Pots and pans tumbled down in Pune and severe shocks were felt at Mahabaleshwar for 3–5 seconds (Times of India. 1967. April 26). It was also felt at Panchgani (Balasundaram et al., 1968) and at Mumbai (Ramachandran and Srivastava, 1991).
Nine students were injured by falling plaster at Koynanagar (Times of India. 1967. September 14). Buildings were damaged at Chandoli, Helwak, Humbarli, Karata, Koynanagar, Navja and Yerad (Balasundaram et al., 1968). Tremors were felt in several parts of western Maharashtra including as far as Panchgani, Pune and Satara (Balasundaram et al., 1968; Sakal. 1967. December 12–December 31; Times of India. 1967. September 14).
At least 177 people were killed and hundreds were injured in the Koyna-Chandoli region while 5 deaths were also reported (one each) from Akkalkot, Mumbai, Panchgani, Sangamner and Sangli (Deccan Herald. 1967. December 12–December 27; Kesari. 1967. December 12–December 31; Sakal. 1967. December 12–December 31; Times of India. 1967. December 13–December 27). Damage was greatest in the region to the south of the town of Koynanagar. At Chapher, most of the masonry buildings collapsed and those that survived were severely damaged while at Donichiwada, the roofs of most houses collapsed and some houses collapsed completely (Balasundaram et al., 1968). At Helwak, two piers of an arch-masonry bridge collapsed into the Koyna River (ibid.). At Chandoli and Randhiv, all houses built of laterite bricks, collapsed completely while at Ambeghar and Ghatmatha, all mud houses said to be of poor construction collapsed (ibid.). Tombstones were toppled over at Donichiwada and here, as well as at Chandoli (17.75o N, 73.75o E) tombstones were shifted (ibid.). Damage also occurred at Koynanagar and other villages in the immediate vicinity and also as far as Mahabaleshwar and Panchgani (ibid.). At Panchgani, the dormitory of Saint Joseph“s Convent was damaged in the mainshock and collapsed on 12 December (Times of India. 1967. December 12–December 27). In Mumbai, building collapses were reported from Bandra and Delisle Road (Sakal. 1967. December 12–December 31) while cracks developed in many prominent buildings such as the Churchgate Station and the LIC-Yogshem building (Times of India. 1967. December 12–December 27). In Pune, minor damage was reported from Hadapsar and Wanowarie as well as from other parts of the city (Kesari. 1967. December 12–December 31). Sporadic damage was also reported from many towns in western Maharashtra as far as Ahmednagar and Osmanabad (Kesari. 1967. December 12–December 31; Sakal. 1967. December 12–December 31). In Karnataka, minor damage was reported from Dodballapur, Gadag, Hovina Hadagalli and Sagar while in Bengaluru many people ran outdoors in panic (Deccan Herald. 1967. December 12–December 27). In Goa, damage was reported from Old Goa and Pilar where buildings developed cracks and tiles were dislodged from buildings (Sakal. 1967. December 12–December 31). The earthquake was felt widely in the peninsula including as far as Ankleshwar, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Nagpur, Surat and Udagamandalam and Ujjain (ibid.).
During this aftershock at 23:53 UTC, a wall collapsed and others developed cracks at Aundh in Satara district (Kesari. 1967. December 12–December 31). Tremors were felt at several places in western Maharashtra, north Karnataka and Goa (Deccan Herald. 1967. December 12–December 27; Kesari. 1967. December 12–December 31; Sakal. 1967. December 12–December 31; Times of India. 1967. December 13–December 27).
This aftershock at 20:49 UTC left one person dead after a wall collapsed at Gohrapur in Mohol Taluka of Solapur district (Kesari. 1967. December 12–December 31). Damage was also reported from Barshi, Pandharpur, Sangole, Osmanabad and Yevti (ibid.). Tremors were moderately felt at Solapur (ibid.). Shocks were also experienced in parts of west-central Maharashtra and north Karnataka (Deccan Herald. 1967. December 12–December 27; Kesari. 1967. December 12–December 31; Sakal. 1967. December 12–December 31).
This aftershock at 23:49 UTC was severely felt at Chiplun and Patan; at Patan several damaged houses collapsed (Times of India. 1967. December 25–December 27). Tremors were also strongly felt at Kirloskarwadi, Kuda, Sangli, Satara and Vengurla (ibid.). Tremors were felt at several places in western Maharashtra, north Karnataka and Goa (Deccan Herald. 1967. December 25–December 27; Times of India. 1967. December 25–December 27).
An earthen wall collapsed in this aftershock at 17:37 UTC at Sangalwadi near Sangli (Deccan Herald. 1967. December 26–December 27). Fresh cracks developed in buildings at Miraj and Sangli and many ran outdoors (Deccan Herald. 1967. December 26–December 27; Times of India. 1967. December 26–December 27). Tremors were felt in Goa and in parts of Maharashtra (ibid.).
At least 2 people were killed and 20 injured at Bhadrachalam in Andhra Pradesh (Deccan Herald. 1969. April 14–April 15). Many buildings damaged in the Bhadrachalam area and a temple collapsed at Parnasala (ibid.). The maximum damage was observed at Kothagudem (Gupta et al., 1970). Ground cracks were observed in the vicinity of Bhadrachalam (ibid.). A dry well was reactivated near Regulagudem and small rock falls were also noted in the same area (ibid.). Tremors were felt throughout the Krishna-Godavari basin including as far as Hyderabad where window panes were broken (Deccan Herald. 1969. April 14–April 15; Times of India. 1969. April 14–April 17). A power failure after the earthquake left Eluru, Hyderabad, Machilipatnam, Secunderabad and Vijayawada in darkness (ibid.). Tremors were felt in many parts of peninsular India including as far as Bengaluru, Cuttack, Mumbai, Pune and Surat (ibid.).
Doors and windows rattled in Holenarsipur, Hunsur and Mysore sending some people running outdoors at Holenarsipur and Hunsur in Karnataka (Deccan Herald. 1970. February 13). Tremors were also felt in the towns of Hallimysore, Jodi Gubbi and Konanur (ibid.).
This earthquake was widely felt in northeastern India as well as in parts of Bihar and West Bengal, (IMD Seismological Bulletins, 1961-1978) including at Kolkata (Times of India. 1970. July 30–August 2). In Assam, damage was reported from Nongpoh, Sibsagar and as far as Guwahati where an overbridge developed cracks (ibid.). Strong tremors were felt for nearly 5 minutes at Dibrugarh, Guwahati, Jorhat, Nowgong, Sibsagar and Silchar in Assam and at Shillong in Meghalaya (ibid.).
At least 60 people were killed and nearly 100 were injured in the districts of Kinnaur and Lahual and Spiti (Singh et al., 1975). Extensive damage occurred at Kaurik, Leo and Sumdo where we assign EMS 8 based on descriptions of the damage appearing in Singh et al. (1975). Minor damage was also reported from the Hanle Monastery in Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir (ibid.). Tremors were felt in many parts of north India and Pakistan including Chandigarh, Delhi, Lahore, Rawalpindi and Shimla (Times of India. 1975. January 20–January 21; Tribune. 1975. January 21–January 25). Landslides and rock falls blocked several roads and highways including the Hindustan-Tibet Highway while between Kaurik and Sumdo a major landslide dammed the Parachu Valley to a height of 60-metres (Singh et al., 1975).
This earthquake was felt strongly at Davangere, Shimoga, Siddapur, Sirikere, Shikarpur, Tirthahalli and Temmadahalli in central Karnataka (Deccan Herald. 1975. May 13). Also felt in other parts of Karnataka as far as Bengaluru (ibid.).
This earthquake caused extensive damage to ancient monuments at Pagan, especially those along the banks of the Irrawady River (Person, 1977). At least one person was killed and another injured in this earthquake that als.o toppled three oil rigs in the Chauk oil fields (ibid.). Tremors were felt throughout central Myanmar, in the Arakan division (ibid.) as well as in parts of northeastern India and Bangladesh (Gosavi et al., 1977). It was also felt nearly 2,000 kilometres away by occupants of high-rise buildings in Delhi, particularly those above the 4th floor (Chaudary, 1976).
This earthquake was strongly felt at Bandarban where people attending a political rally rushed outdoors in panic (Bangladesh Times. 1977. May 13). Numerous people were injured in Chittagong, some after jumping from buildings (Bangladesh Observer. 1977. May 13). Many buildings in Chittagong also developed cracks (ibid.). This earthquake was widely felt in southeastern Bangladesh and was perceptible as far as Dhaka (ibid.).
At least 178 people killed in the Bajhang-Dharchula region of far-western Nepal (Singh, 1981). Bajhang district witnessed 6,137 collapsed houses with another 8,580 houses damaged (ibid.). Damage also occurred at Chainpur, Dharchula and Dhamgadhi in Nepal and at Almora, Dharchula and Pitoragarh in Kumaon (Times of India. 1980. July 30–July 31). Six people were killed and thirteen injured in Dharchula in Kumaon (ibid.). Tremors were strongly felt at Bhaktapur and Kathmandu in Nepal (International Seismological Centre, 2001; Times of India. 1980. July 30–July 31). It was also felt at Delhi and at other places in northern India (Times of India. 1980. July 30–July 31).
Eight people were injured and minor damage occurred at Gangtok, Sikkim (International Seismological Centre, 2001). Four injuries were reported from Sanglang in north Sikkim (Times of India. 1980. November 20–November 21). The Secretariat and the High Court buildings were damaged at Gangtok where the earthquake lasted close to 45 seconds (ibid.). Tremors were felt in other parts of eastern India including as far as Kolkata (ibid.). Minor damage was also reported from western Bhutan including Thimphu (Kuensel. 1980. November 32). It was also felt in Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal (International Seismological Centre, 2001).
Damage occurred at Kelamangalam and Kowthalam in Karnataka (Iyengar and Meera, 1984). Minor cracks also developed in old buildings in Bengaluru (ibid.). The shock was felt strongly at many places in south Karnataka including at Anekal, Bannerghata, Denkanikota, Hosur and Bengaluru, where people ran outdoors in panic (Deccan Herald. 1984. March 21). Tremors were also felt in adjoining parts of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu (ibid.).
Six people were killed and thirty injured in the Dharamsala area (Tribune. 1986. April 27–April 29). Several buildings were damaged in the Dharamsala-Kangra area (ibid.). Tremors were felt at many places in north India (ibid.) including in high-rise buildings in Delhi (Arya et al., 1986) as well at Lahore in Pakistan (International Seismological Centre, 2001).
Two people were killed and twelve injured in house collapses in the Silchar region of Assam (Times of India. 1988. August 7–August 28). One person was killed at Dihom in Dibrugarh in a traffic accident (ibid.). Landslides occurred between Diphu and Lumding (ibid.). Minor damage occurred in many parts of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh as well as in Bangladesh (ibid.). Damage was also reported from the Homalin area in northern Myanmar (ibid.). Smoke was seen coming out of the earth at Dudpapil in Silchar while at Paltan Bazaar an oily substance oozed out of the earth following the quake (ibid.). The earthquake was felt throughout Bangladesh (Bangladesh Observer. 1988. August 7–August 22) as well as in northeast and eastern India including at Kolkata (Times of India. 1988. August 7–August 28).
At least 717 people were killed and 7,329 people injured in Nepal where 53,816 buildings collapsed in the zones of Baghmati, Janakpur, Kosi, Mechi, Narayani and Sagarmatha (Fujiwara et al., 1989) with damage also being reported from irrigation and power projects (Gupta, 1988). In India, 281 people were killed in north Bihar (Kumar, 1990) where widespread damage and liquefaction occurred (Nandy et al., 1993). At Harlakhi, many kutcha houses wth poorly constructed walls collapsed completely (ibid.). Widespread liquefaction occurred in parts of Bihar and intensities were not assigned to locations where it was apparent that liquefaction was directly responsible for damage (e.g., Jaynagar). At Dhankuta, the hospital was severely damaged and had to be demolished (Gupta, 1988). A few buildings in the hospital complex completely collapsed (ibid.). Damage was also reported from adjacent parts of Jharkhand, Sikkim and West Bengal (ibid.). This earthquake was widely felt in India including as far as Agartala, Delhi, Roorkee and Rajasthan as well as in much of Bangladesh (Kumar, 1990, Nandy et al., 1993). Seismic seiches were reported from several parts of Bangladesh that capsized numerous boats including a ferry on the Jamuna River at Aricha near Manikganj in Bangladesh killing two people and leaving nearly thirty missing (Bangladesh Observer. 1988. August 22).
This earthquake damaged 32 buildings along with 380 hectares of farmland in the Thabeikkyn area of northern Myanmar (International Seismological Centre, 2001). This earthquake was felt strongly at Mandalay and in much of northwestern Myanmar from Hkamti to Sittwe (ibid.). It was also felt in western Thailand including at Bangkok and Chiang Mai as well as at Silchar in Assam, India (ibid.).
At least 300 people were killed, 574 injured and 5,983 houses were destroyed in Chitral-Malakand area of the NWFP (United Nations Department of Humanitarian Affairs, 1991). Power supplies were cut in the affected region either due to the earthquake or heavy winter snowfall (ibid.). The Karakoram Highway was blocked by landslides and fallen electricity poles (ibid.). Between 200 to 400 people were also killed in the provinces of Badakhshan, Konar and Nangarhar in the Afghanistan (International Seismological Centre, 2001). 3 people died of cardiac arrest at Khorog in Tajikistan where severe damage was reported (ibid.). At least one person was killed at Kabul where three houses collapsed (Patriot. 1991. February 2). The earthquake was strongly felt in much of northern Pakistan including at Abbottabad, Dera Ismail Khan, Islamabad and Peshawar (United Nations Department of Humanitarian Affairs, 1991). It was also felt in parts of eastern Afghanistan, north India and in central Asia (International Seismological Centre, 2001).
At least 768 people were killed and 5,066 injured in the districts of Chamoli, Tehri and Uttarkashi (Vohra and Gupta Sarma, 1992). One person was killed at Badsari in the Sangla Valley in Kinnaur district (ibid.). EMS intensities 8 and 9 were assigned to several locations within the epicentral region based on descriptions of extensive damage from macroseismic surveys (Vohra and Gupta Sarma, 1992). Isolated damage also occurred at Dehradun and Dugadda in Gharwal and at Kunihar and Timbi in Himachal Pradesh (ibid.). Tremors were felt in many parts of north India including at Delhi, Lucknow and Shimla (ibid.) as well as in parts of northern Pakistan and Nepal (International Seismological Centre, 2001).
People rushed out into the open at Ankleshwar, Bardoli, Bharuch and Valsad (Maharashtra Herald. 1993. August 26–September 4). In Maharashtra, it was felt in Mumbai where reports of tremors were received from Bandra, Chembur, Juhu, Kandivali and Prabhadevi (ibid.). Mild tremors were also felt on the 2nd floor of a building in Pune (Augustus Martin, personal correspondence, 1993).
At least 7,438 people were killed in the districts of Latur and Osmanabad (Narula et al., 1996). As many as 200 deaths were reported in the adjoining districts of Ahmednagar, Nanded, Nashik, Pandharpur, Sangli and Solapur (Deccan Herald. 1993. October 1). Eight people were also killed in the districts of Bidar, Bijapur and Gulbarga in northern Karnataka (Narula et al., 1996). Several villages in the epicentral region, including Killari, were almost completely destroyed (ibid.) and to these we assign EMS 8 or 9. Minor damage extended into neighbouring districts in Maharashtra and Karnataka (ibid.) including as far as Pune (Maharashtra Herald. 1993. October 2–October 15). Tremors were strongly felt at Hyderabad and Pune while at Solapur many people ran outdoors in panic. The earthquake was felt throughout peninsular India including at Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai and even in northern Kerala (Hindu. 1993. October 1–October 2; Times of India. 1993. October 2–October 15). In the weeks following this earthquake, geophysical anomalies such as gas and smoke emissions were observed and catalogued in adjacent parts of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra (Gupta et al., 1993).
One person died of a heart attack at Arala in Sangli and six people were injured at Patan (Indian Express. 1993. December 9; Maharashtra Herald. 1993. December 9). Damage was reported from the districts of Kolhapur and Satara (ibid.). The earthquake was felt throughout western Maharashtra as well as in Goa and north Karnataka (ibid.).
One person was hospitalized for shock at Sant Tukaramnagar in the Pimpri-Chinchwad area (Maharashtra Herald. 1994. February 2). At least 32 houses were damaged at Kasani near Patan (ibid.). Two generators at the Koyna Hydel power station were shut down temporarily disrupting power supply (ibid.). The earthquake was felt throughout western Maharashtra as well as in Goa and north Karnataka (ibid.).
Buildings developed cracks at Ausa, Ganjankhed, Haregaon, Karoda, Kharatu, Mangrul, Nandurga, Nilanga, Nimbala, Renapur, Sirsi Police Lines, Talni and Umarga (Maharashtra Herald. 1995. December 15). Wall collapses were reported from 10-12 places in Umarga tehsil in Osmanabad district (ibid.).
This earthquake killed 38 people and left 397 injured in Jabalpur and the adjoining districts (Times of India. 1997. May 23). Significant damage occurred at in the Jabalpur urban area and in the surrounding region, such as at Kosamghat, where many buildings, including engineered structures partially or completely collapsed (Udhoji et al., 2000). We assign EMS 8 to these locations based on descriptions of the damage appearing in Udhoji et al. (2000). Tremors from this event were felt throughout central India and as far as Allahabad, Delhi, Lucknow, Raurkela and Sambalpur (Maharashtra Herald. 1997. May 23–May 24; Times of India. 1997. May 23).
Tremors were strongly felt at Dombivili, Mumbra, Kalyan, Kulgaon and Thane (Indian Express. 1998. June 1; Times of India. 1998. June 1). Tremors were also felt throughout the Mumbai metropolitan area from Colaba in the south to Dahisar in the north ((Gupta et al., 1998); Press Trust of India. 1998. June 1; Times of India. 1998. June 1).
This earthquake left 106 people dead and injured 453 in the districts of Bageshwar, Chamoli, Pauri Garhwal, Rudraprayag and Tehri Garhwal in Uttarakhand (Gupta et al., 2001). Two people were also reported killed at Nakodar in Punjab and one at Ambala in Haryana (Aaj Tak. 1999. March 29). Serious damage was concentrated in Chamoli though significant damage was also observed in surrounding villages with minor damage occurring as far as Delhi (Gupta et al., 2001). Tremors from this earthquake were felt throughout north India including at Gwalior, Jaipur, Kanpur, Srinagar and as far south as Pune (Mid-Day. 1999. March 29; Times of India. 1999. March 30–April 4; Indian Express. 1999. March 30–April 4). An aftershock on 30 March at 21:02 UTC left 50 people injured in Chamoli district and destroyed at least 20 houses in Barai village (Times of India. 1999. March 30–April 4). Another aftershock on 31 March at 20:39 UTC left one person dead in a house collapse at Hat Pipalkoti in Chamoli district (Times of India. 1999. April 2).
Walls collapsed at several locations in the Chandoli-Koyna region such as Kokisare, Kondale, Kusrud, Rule, Sanbur, Shitur and Ukhrul (Lokmat. 2000. September 6–September 8; Sakal. 2000. September 6–September 8). Damage was also reported from other villages in the region including Dhebewadi, Helwak and Kasani (ibid.). A temple was also damaged at Jejuri near Pune (ibid.). The earthquake was strongly felt throughout western Maharashtra including Kolhapur, Pune and Ratnagiri as well as far as Mumbai (Indian Express. 2000. September 6; Lokmat. 2000. September 6–September 8; Sakal. 2000. September 6–September 8).
Several towns on the Kachchh mainland, including Adhoi, Anjar, Bhachau, Bhuj, Gandhidham, Jawaharnagar (Jhuran), Kandla, Lodai, Rapar, Samakhiali and Vondh, were heavily damaged and were assigned intensities between EMS 8-10 based on descriptions of damage, ranging from severe damage to the complete collapse of well-engineered structures, published in a macroseismic survey by Pande and Kayal (2003). Extensive liquefaction was observed in the Rann of Kachchh as well as in adjoining parts of Gujarat (Pande and Kayal, 2003) and Sindh (Dawn. 2001. January 27–January 30). Outside Kachchh, damage extended into other parts of Gujarat including Ahmedabad, Bharuch, Bhavnagar, Dwarka, Gandhinagar, Jamnagar, Junagarh, Nadiad, Porbandar, Rajkot, Surat and Veraval (Pande and Kayal, 2003). At least 85 medium high-rise buildings collapsed in Ahmedabad and one in Surat resulting in as many as 700 deaths (ibid.). Damage also extended into parts of Rajasthan including Bakhasar, Jaipur, Jaisalmer and Jodhpur, western parts of Madhya Pradesh and northwestern parts of Maharashtra including as far as Mumbai where several buildings developed cracks (Pande and Kayal, 2003, Hough et al., 2003). In India, at least 13,805 deaths were attributed to this earthquake (Pande and Kayal, 2003). In Pakistan, at least 18 people were killed in the province of Sindh (Dawn. 2001. January 27–January 30) and buildings damaged at Badin, Bahawalpur, Hyderabad and Multan (Hough et al., 2002). This earthquake was felt throughout south Asia as far as Allahabad, Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Delhi, Kathmandu, Kolkata, Kumbakonam, Machilipatnam, Patna, Quetta, Vishakhapatnam and Shillong (ibid.). Seismic seiches were noted at several locations in southern India (Pande and Kayal, 2003).
At least 144 people were killed in this earthquake (Associated Press. 2002. March 3). At least 340 houses were destroyed in the Jurm district with wall or roof collapses extending Baharak, Kabul, Jalalabad and Rustaq (ReliefWeb reports, 2002). Minor damage was also reported from northern Pakistan (Dawn. 2002. March 3–March 5). Tremors were felt widely in northern Pakistan (ibid.) as well as in north India as far south as Bikaner (Tribune. 2002. March 4; Rajasthan Patrika. 2002. March 4).
Three people were killed and nearly thirty-two injured in the Barkhol-Rangamati area of Chittagong Division, Bangladesh (Ansary and Sadek, 2006). Damage was reported from Aimachara, Barkhol, Boroharina, Langadu and Rangamati while buildings developed cracks a far as Chittagong, Cox“s Bazaar, Moheskhali, Kutubdia and Sonadia (ibid.). In Chittagong, a small fire occurred at the Modunaghat Grid Sub-station temporarily disrupting power supply (ibid.). Subsidence was reported and liquefaction was observed near Kolabonia (ibid.). Tremors from this earthquake were felt as far as Dhaka in Bangladesh as well as in parts of Tripura, India (ASC: http://asc-india.org/lib/20030726-daluchari.htm).
At least 24 people were killed and 40 injured in this earthquake (Daily Times. 2004. February 15–February 16; Dawn. 2004. February 15–February 18). Damage was reported from Balakot, Battal, Hangrai, Jabori, Jigan, Kawai, Manda Gucha, Paras Bela, Shungra and Tangai (ibid.). It was felt in parts of northern Pakistan and adjoining parts of India (ibid.).
Nearest to the epicenter along the west coast of Sumatra, intensity assessments (Martin, 2005) were dependent on eyewitness accounts as most structures were destroyed or sustained further damage due to the resultant tsunamis. Based on descriptions in Martin (2005), the highest inferred intensity of EMS-9 occurred at Lameureum on Simuelue Island, where people were “thrown to the ground.” EMS-8 was assigned to locations in Aceh such as Banda Aceh, Kembang Cot and Meulaboh as well as to Port Blair and Nancowry Island in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands where Grade-5 damage (Grünthal and Levret, 2001) to some buildings was noted and people found it difficult to remain standing. Elsewhere in the region, buildings were damaged as far as the Irrawady delta, southern Bangladesh, Thailand and at several locales along the east coast of India such as Bhubaneswar (Martin, 2005). This earthquake was widely felt in southern and southeast Asia, as far west as 3,300 kilometres in high-rise buildings in Ahmedabad and Mumbai as well as at Malé in the Maldives (ibid.). Tremors were also felt in high-rise buildings in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand (ibid.). Seismic seiches were reported from lakes and reservoirs in Bangladesh, eastern and northeastern India, eastern Nepal and Thailand while aquifers were disturbed in India at Bhopal, Ganeshpuri and in the districts of Chandauli, Mirzapur and Sonebhadra in Uttar Pradesh (ibid.). Ocean-wide tsunamis generated by this earthquake killed a quarter million people in countries surrounding the Indian Ocean.
This earthquake was widely felt in western Maharashtra, north Karnataka and Goa. News reports in the Dainik Aikya (2005. March 15–March 18), Deccan Herald (2005. March 15), Hindu (2005. March 15), Lokmat (2005. March 15–March 18), Pudhari (2005. March 15–March 18), Sakal (2005. March 15–March 18) and Times of India (2005. March 15–March 16) are summarized here along with ASC Felt reports from http://www.asc-india.org. At 46 people were injured in Maharashtra and Karnataka in this earthquake. Damage was reported from locations in the epicentral region such as Dhebewadi and Koynanagar with minor damage being reported as far as Kolhapur, Panaji and Pune. Tremors were also felt in Mumbai where high-rise buildings were evacuated and sections of a dilapidated building collapsed in the premises of the Gowalia Tank Fire Station. Tremors were also felt strongly at Belgaum, Bijapur and Karwar as well as far as Bengaluru.
The earthquake was felt strongly in the Nancowry group of islands and at Perka on Car Nicobar in the Nicobar Islands (ASC Felt Reports (http://www.asc-india.org); Press Trust of India. 2005. July 25). The earthquake was also felt in many parts of southern India, Sri Lanka and northern Sumatra. In peninsular India tremors were felt at Ayyakonerugattu, Dasannapeta, Gara, Kakinada, Narasanapeta, Rajamundhry, Srikakulam, Vishakhapatnam and Vizianagaram in Andhra Pradesh, at Bengaluru in Karnataka, at Ramanniguda in Orissa, at Dum Dum and Garia in West Bengal and at Chennai in Tamil Nadu (Parimita Routray, personal communication, 2005; Deccan Chronicle. 2005. July 25–July 26; Deccan Herald. 2005. July 25–July 26; Hindu. 2005. July 25; New Indian Express. 2005. July 25; Telegraph. 2005. July 25). In Sri Lanka it was felt at Colombo, Kandy and Matale (Hindu. 2005. July 25).
This earthquake resulted in over 73,338 deaths in northern Pakistan (Idris, 2007), 1319 deaths in north India (Amar Ujala. 2005. October 9–October 12, Ministry of Home Affairs, 2005) and 4 deaths eastern Afghanistan. Based on photographs and preliminary macroseismic surveys (Geological Society of India, 2005, Naseer et al., 2005), EMS intensities 8 and 9, were assigned to a string of locations in the Neelum and Kishanganga Valleys such as Muzaffarabad and Tangdhar, where damage included the complete destruction of RCC buildings and well engineered structures like bridges. In other parts of the region such as Amritsar, Baramulla, Islamabad, Hoshiarpur, Jammu, Jhelum, Lahore, Ludhiana, Mansehra, Mianwali, Peshawar, Rawalpindi, Shimla, Srinagar and Uri, the earthquake caused widespread panic as partial failure of some buildings and free standing walls (Amar Ujala. 2005. October 9–October 12; Dainik Jagran. 2005. October 9–October 12; Daily Times. 2005. October 9–October 12; Dawn. 2005. October 9–October 12; Jang. 2005. October 9–October 12). The earthquake was strongly felt throughout much of the northern subcontinent causing minor damage as far as Alwar, Bhakkar, Delhi, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Gurgaon, Jaipur, Leiah, Mathura, Narendranagar and Taunsa Sharif (ibid.). Outside south Asia it was perceptible at Bagram, Charikar, Jalalabad, Kabul and Mazar-e Sharif in Afghanistan, at Kashi in China, at Almaty in Kazakhstan and at Dushanbe, Dusti and Orzu in Tajikistan (ASC Felt Reports (http://www.asc-india.org); NEIC “Did You Feel It?” (http://earthquakes.usgs.gov/eqcenter/dyfi)). Seismic seiches were observed at Pehowa in Haryana, at Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh, at Kharagpur in West Bengal, at Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu and at numerous locations throughout Bangladesh (Amar Ujala. 2005. October 9–October 12; Daily Star. 2005. October 9; Dainik Jagran. 2005. October 9–October 12; Press Trust of India. 2005. October 8).
Two Indian Army soldiers were killed when the vehicle they were travelling in was struck by a rock fall at Sherathang near the border outpost at Nathu La in Sikkim (Statesman. 2006. February 15). At least 10 people were injured in Sikkim after being hit by falling debris or rocks. In Bangladesh, 11 people were injured in quake-related stampedes at Gaibandha (Daily Star. 2006. February 15). Several buildings were damaged at Gangtok and in other parts of Sikkim (Paul et al., 2006, Som et al., 2006). News reports in the Dainik Jagran (2006. February 16), Daily Star. (2006. February 15), Indo-Asian News Service (2006. February 14), New Age (2006. February 14), New Nation (2006. February 14), Prabhat Khabor (2006. February 15), Press Trust of India (2006. February 14), Statesman (2006. February 15), Telegraph (2006. February 15) and United National Press of India (2006. February 14) are summarized here. Tremors were strongly felt in northern West Bengal including at Shiliguri where some buildings developed cracks. This earthquake was felt in much of the region including Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar and Meghalaya in India, in western Bhutan, northern Bangladesh and as far as Kathmandu. Seismic seiches were observed in ponds and other water bodies at Dinajpur and Rangpur in Bangladesh (Daily Star. 2006. February 15; New Age. 2006. February 14).
This earthquake was one of the strongest in the Delhi region since the 1960 Gurgaon earthquake. News reports in the Amar Ujala (2007. November 27–November 28), Dainik Bhaskar (2007. November 27–November 28), Dainik Jagran (2007. November 27–November 28) and the Rajasthan Patrika (2007. November 27–November 28) are summarized here along with ASC Felt reports. Minor damage was reported from Balore and Rewari in Haryana, Bagpat, Badaut, Meerut and Noida in Uttar Pradesh. Tremors were strongly felt at Ghaziabad, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Hissar, Meerut, Panipat, Rohtak and Sonepat. Tremors were also strongly felt through the Delhi metropolitan area causing widespread panic and many people ran outdoors. Tremors were also felt in adjoining parts of Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.
This earthquake was strongly felt in the Andaman Islands including at Port Blair (United National Press of India. 2009. August 12). People ran outdoors in panic at Ariel Bay, Diglipur and Mayabandar where some buildings were damaged and house articles displaced (United National Press of India. 2009. August 12). To the south at Rongat, a jetty developed wide cracks (Andaman Chronicle. 2009. August 12). Away from the Andaman Islands, it was felt in many parts of the Subcontinent including at Kathmandu in Nepal and Thimphu in Bhutan (NEIC “Did You Feel It?” (http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/dyfi)). In Myanmar, it was felt as far inland as Nyapidaw while at Maungdaw it caused some panic and displaced crockery (Xinhua. 2009. August 11; Burma News International. 2009. August 12). It also caused some panic in southern Bangladesh at places such as Cox“s Bazaar but was mildly felt in other parts of the country including at Dhaka (ASC Felt Reports (http://www.asc-india.org); Daily Star. 2009. August 12; New Nation. 2009. August 12). Tremors were distinctly felt along the entire length of India“s Coromandel Coast with minor damage occurring at Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Cuttack, Ranchi and Vishakhapatnam (ASC Felt Reports (http://www.asc-india.org); Deccan Chronicle. 2009. August 12; Hindu. 2009. August 11–August 12; Kalinga Times. 2009 .August 12; Odisha Daily. 2009. August 12; Times of India. 2009. August 11–August 12). Inland it was perceived as far as Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Jamshedpur, Patna, Ranchi, Sambalpur and Shillong (ASC Felt Reports http://www.asc-india.org; Dainik Jagran. 2009. August 12; Hindustan Dainik. 2009. August 12; Pioneer. 2009. August 12; Prabhat Khabar. 2009. August 12; Telegraph. 2009. August 12). In south-east Asia this earthquake was felt lightly at isolated locations in Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam (NEIC “Did You Feel It?” (http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/dyfi)) while in Indonesia it was felt on Pulau Sabang off the coast of Banda Aceh (Aceh Kita. 2009. August 12). A M5.9 aftershock on 13 August was strongly felt on North and Middle Andaman (Andaman Sheekha. 2009. August 14). It was also felt in tall buildings in Chennai (Hindu. 2009. August 14).