From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Earthquake in Southeast Asia
The
1941 Andaman Islands earthquake
struck the
Andaman Islands
on June 26 with a magnitude of 7.7 to 8.1. Details of this event are poorly known as much of Southeast Asia was in the turmoil of
World War II
. The quake caused severe damage in the Andaman Islands. The tsunami it triggered was reported along the
Andaman and Nicobar Islands
,
India
and
British Ceylon
(now known as
Sri Lanka
). There may have been damage and deaths in
Bangladesh
,
Myanmar
, and
Thailand
due to the tsunami.
Effects
[
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]
The earthquake partially collapsed
Cellular Jail
and destroyed other masonry buildings at
Port Blair
.
[2]
Ground
slumping
,
soil liquefaction
and
sand volcanoes
were reported. Roads, bridges, embankments,
seawalls
and jetties were seriously damaged. Large
fissures
occurred in the ground. Large trees were tilted and uprooted. According to eyewitness accounts, these trees fell in a westernly direction. There was an unspecified number of deaths only described as "few". Shaking was felt over a very wide area; felt reports also came from
Colombo
,
Chennai
,
Kolkata
and
Mumbai
.
[3]
Islands located in a passage between
Little Andaman
and
South Andaman Islands
subsided by over 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in).
[2]
Tsunami
[
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]
Although no
tide gauges
existed, the estimated tsunami heights were 0.75 m (2 ft 6 in) to 1.25 m (4 ft 1 in) along the east coast of India.
[4]
It is claimed that 5,000 drowned in India but no reliable attribution for such figure exists. News reports misattributed these deaths with a storm surge, while the
Times of India
did not mention a tsunami while reporting the event. No news or scientific reports made mention of a large death toll from the tsunami. It was also unlikely that a 1 m (3 ft 3 in) tsunami could result in a high death toll. Reports of the tsunami effects along the Andaman Islands also did not mention any fatalities.
[4]
Geology
[
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]
The earthquake occurred in a
convergent boundary
zone that separates the
Indian Plate
from the
Burma Plate
. The Indian Plate
subducts obliquely
beneath the Burma Plate at a rate of 6.7 cm/year. It was previously assigned a magnitude of 8.1 to 8.7.
[5]
The International Seismological Centre assigned this event as having a moment magnitude of 8.0.
[6]
Further research suggest the earthquake did not occur as a result of rupturing the
subduction zone
; it was a
normal-faulting
intraslab earthquake located within the Indian Plate beneath the islands.
[5]
See also
[
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]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Martin, S.; Szeliga, W. (2010),
"A Catalog of Felt Intensity Data for 570 Earthquakes in India from 1636 to 2009"
,
Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America
, Electronic Supplement (table S2),
100
(2),
Seismological Society of America
: 562?569,
Bibcode
:
2010BuSSA.100..562M
,
doi
:
10.1785/0120080328
, archived from
the original
on 2016-11-12
, retrieved
2017-03-15
- ^
a
b
Ortiz, Modesto; Bilham, Roger (2003).
"Source area and rupture parameters of the 31 December 1881 M w = 7.9 Car Nicobar earthquake estimated from tsunamis recorded in the Bay of Bengal"
.
Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth
.
108
(B4): 2215.
Bibcode
:
2003JGRB..108.2215O
.
doi
:
10.1029/2002JB001941
.
- ^
National Geophysical Data Center / World Data Service (NGDC/WDS): NCEI/WDS Global Significant Earthquake Database. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (1972).
"Significant Earthquake Information"
(Data set). NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information.
doi
:
10.7289/V5TD9V7K
.
- ^
a
b
National Geophysical Data Center / World Data Service: NCEI/WDS Global Historical Tsunami Database. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information.
"Tsunami Event Information"
(Data set). NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information.
doi
:
10.7289/V5PN93H7
.
- ^
a
b
Okal, Emile A. (2019). "The Large Andaman Islands Earthquake of 26 June 1941: Why No Significant Tsunami?".
Pure and Applied Geophysics
.
1
(7): 2869?2886.
Bibcode
:
2019PApGe.176.2869O
.
doi
:
10.1007/s00024-018-2082-8
.
S2CID
134095505
.
- ^
ISC (2022),
ISC-GEM Global Instrumental Earthquake Catalogue (1900?2009)
, Version 9.1,
International Seismological Centre
Sources
External links
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Earthquakes in the 1940s
|
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1940
| |
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1941
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1942
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1943
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1944
| |
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1946
|
- Valais
(6.1, January 25)
- Aleutian Islands
(8.6, April 1)
†
- Varto?Hınıs
(5.9, May 31)
†
- Vancouver Island
(7.3, June 23)
- Dominican Republic
(8.1, Aug 4)
‡†
- Sagaing
(8.0, 7.8, Sep 12)
- Kyrgyzstan
(7.6, Nov 2)
- Peru
(6.8, Nov 10)
†
- Hsinhua
(6.1, Dec 5)
†
- Nankai
(8.1, Dec 21)
†
|
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1947
| |
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1948
| |
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1949
| |
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†
indicates earthquake resulting in at least 30 deaths
‡
indicates the deadliest earthquake of the year
|
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Historical
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20th century
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21st century
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Related topics
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