Cutchi Memon Digest
Kerala
ﮐﮁﻲ ﻤﻴﻤﻦ ﮢ ﺍﯿﺠﺴﭧ - ﮐﻴﺮﻻ
ANCIENT EARTHQUAKES IN CUTCH AREA
October 325 BC
According to Plutarch, In August 325 BC, Alexander with about 135,000 foot soldiers and cavalry men left Patala towards Carmania, for the long and difficult march back homeward by land route. On 15 September 325 BC, following the departure of the bulk of army via the southern land route, the Greek fleet of 150 ships under Nearchus' command, set out to sea for Carmania and Babylonia with the remaining army which had dwindled to about 17,000 - 20,000 men. However, September was too early in the season for the journey west as the summer monsoon winds blow in this region from a southwest direction from May through October. Almost immediately after sailing from Patala, the ships encountered adverse winds. It took almost a week to reach the Erythrean Sea (the Indian Ocean). Subsequently, the fleet headed west towards Morontobara or Woman's Harbour (present Karachi) through the lagoon between the mouths of rivers Indus and Hab and made a camp at Port Alexander, south of river Hab as winds were not favourable. At this time and at this location - in late October / early November 325 BC - a large earthquake and tsunami occurred near the Indus delta/Kutch region where the fleet had taken refuge. The earthquake had large magnitude and massive waves destroyed a good part of Alexander's fleet. Also, according to Sri Lankan texts, a destructive tsunami struck the east side of the island. However, no details are available as to the exact date of the event, the location of Alexander's fleet at that time, or the extent of the losses.In all probability, the earthquake occurred along the Makran coast (of present southern Pakistan) and generated a destructive tsunami. The earthquake must have been very similar to the Makran earthquake of 1945, which generated a destructive tsunami along coastal areas of India, Pakistan, Iran and Oman and so it is inferred that the earth quak must have an intensity of about Mw8. Another view is that the earthquake occurred in the Gujarat region, where large events are also known to occur - particularly along the Kutch Graben region or even near the Bombay graben. This naturally implies that Cutch must have been affected. No conclusive evidence is, however, available.
893 - 894 A.D. - Debal (Indus Delta, Sindh), Pakistan.
Thousands are believed to have perished in a major earthquake, of a magnitude of Mw 7.5, in the Indus Delta, in present-day Sindh, Pakistan, sometime between March 13, 893 and December 14, 894 A.D. The dates according to the Tariqul Khulafaha (History of the Caliphs) and Alkamil-fiI Tarikh by Ibn-ulathir the date is mentioned as the day of Lunar eclipse (full moonday 14th or 15th) in Shawwal of AH 280 corresponding to December 27/28, 893 The massive shock destroyed several towns and even resulted in the Indus River, changing its course. The earthquake was located in the vicinity of the town of Debal.
The quake occurred at night and "caused the entire town (Debal) to disappear". Only 100 buildings were left standing. The number of dead that were dug out of the debris, are thought to number as high as 1,50,000. Five aftershocks are also said to have been felt. Many other towns in the region were badly affected and eventually abandoned. To the north of Debal, near present-day Hyderabad, the towns of Bahmanabad and Mansura were badly affected. They were important cities in the region and suddenly disappeared from historical records.
Archaeological excavations at the sites, revealed “human bones, which were found in doorways, as if people were attempting to escape or in the corners of rooms; some upright, some recumbent, with their faces down and some crouched in a sitting posture." A brick which had "entered corner-ways into a skull, and which when taken out, had a fragment of bone adhering to it", found in the ruins suggested an earth quake. It was originally believed that a fire destroyed the city. However, excavators could not find any evidence of fire.
Abu Rihana, a noted historian in the 11th century, mentions both Brahmanabad and Mansura in his travalogues dated about 1031 AD. The city's walls and buildings had been destroyed. Possibly the survivors could have returned to salvage belongi-ngs or to rebuild the town. Nevertheless the city gradually decayed. Mansura is known to have existed as late as 1250 A.D. After this period there is no further mention it, until the discovery of their ruins.
There are similar reports of damage from other towns in the region including Bhuj and adjacent towns. Patala, Nagar and Balmeer are also said to have been damaged at about the same time . Towns in Kutchh, to the south and the north-west of Bhuj were restored after being ruined by an unmentioned event, during the same time period.
The Nara River as well as the Indus is known to have shifted course, westward, during this period, the Nara drying up at Bahmanabad. The Indus, which used to flow through the eastern Nara, shifted westward and witnessed a drop in the rate of its flow and energy. Two famous seaports, Debal and Barbarike Emporium, were deserted by 1250 A.D. due to the failure of the river. Massive floods in the years after the earthquake, accelerated this process. The coastline has also dramatically been altered since then. Arab records from their invasion of the Sindh in 719 A.D. suggest that a number of harbour towns flourished on the shores of the Rann, which was then navigable upto Nagar. However, in 1361 A.D., Arab historians described the entire region as a "howling desert".
May 1668
In his 1710 history of the reign of the Emperor Aurangzeb (Maasir-i-Alamgiri), the Persian historian Musta’idd Khan notes that in May 1668 a report was received from the Mughal province of Thatta that an earthquake had damaged the town of Samawani , in the jurisdiction of the port of Lari, and had sunk down the town with 30,000 residents. On the 1st Zí-l hijja, 1078 A.H. (3rd May, 1668), the intelligence arrived from Thatta that the town of Samájí had been destroyed by an earthquake; thirty thousand houses were thrown down. At this time (between the 1st and 10th Zíl hajja, 1078 A.H a report was received from the Soobah of Tattah that the town of Samawani (or Samanji) which belongs to the Parganah of Láhori had sunk into the ground with 30,000 houses during an earthquake. Total casualties was estimated to be around 50. Though the damage elsewhere was colossal it appears that Cutch was marginally affected. It is said that the temples and mosques built in 1574 and 1627 at Mandvi, the port city in southern coast of Cutch, remained unscathed until the earthquake in 1819. It is worth noting that a Himalayan earthquake that damaged the Kathmandu Valley in 1668 is mentioned briefly (a single sentence) in Nepalese histories.