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| Year |
Location |
Magnitude |
Comment |
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| 1762 |
Bangladesh
|
|
A very destructive and violent earthquake felt all over
Bengal, Arakan, etc., chiefly and most severely in the north
part of the east coast of the Bay of Bengal. In Calcutta,
water in tanks rose 6 feet; direction said to have been
north and south; lasted ten minutes. At Ghitotty, 18 miles
above Calcutta, river rose more than 6 feet perpendicularly.
At Dacca, water rose so suddenly as to carry up hundreds of
boats, and many lives were lost. Chittagong suffered very
severely; great explosion heard at first; openings in the
earth were formed 10 to 12 cubits in length, and chasms were
filled with water. Water was spouted out like a fountain
together with fine sand or mud; earth continued to sink day
by day little by little. Sixty square miles said to have
been permanently submerged. At Dollazari houses fell;
cavity opened 200 cubits in length and filled with water.
Two volcanoes said to have opened on the Seeta Kunda Hills.
At Nahar Charcak the island clove asunder and was swallowed
up by the waters. Minor shocks continued up to the 19th. To
this severe earthquake is attributed an elevation, of
varying amount, of the coast of Arakan, stated to extend
over more than 100 miles in length. Oysters were found
adhering to a pinnacle of rock, about 40 feet high, on a
line about 13 feet above the second line of beach (that
produced in 1766), which itself marked in a similar way.
From Southeast Asia Association of Seismology and Earthquake
Engineering, Series on Seismology, Volume II - Thailand, June 1985.
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U.S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey