An authoritative study on this earthquake has been published by Byrne et al., [1992] and its detailed findings will not be repeated here. This page summarizes earlier earthquakes mentioned by Byrne et al. [1992]. The figure below illustrates the approximate locations of great ruptures discussed in their text. Note, however, that no historical evidence for great earthquakes to the west or east of the 1945 rupture currently exists (see below).

1765 Possibly not an earthquake and almost certainly not in 1765

An earthquake is alleged to have caused a landslide on the Makran Coast 150 km west of  Karachi at some time in the 18th century.  Ambraseys and Melville [1982] list the year as c.1765 with no implied or stated uncertainty. The source of this information is the director of the Makran telegraph line, who wrote a note to the Government of Bombay indicating that " a smart shock of an earthquake" had been felt in Gwadar at 00:45 on the morning of the 25th August 1864 and speculates that large earthquakes, if they occurred along the Makran coast, could jeopardize telegraph communications [Walton, 1864].  From its brief mention in telegrams from Gwadar and not from other telegraph posts along the Makran coast, the 1864 earthquake was presumably quite small (M<5).  Walton’s letter describes the possible occurrence of an earthquake remembered by local people: " As the entire coast of Mekran (sic) is volcanic, I often enquired of the Baluchees regarding the occurrence of earthquakes, and the only phenomenon of this sort, of which I could obtain any information, was said to have happened about 100 years ago, when, as my informant assured me, an entire hill, with men and camels on it, disappeared into the sea. I imagine this must have been a landslip caused by some submarine disturbance.  The spot was pointed out to me and is known as Ras Koocheree on the chart."   (Walton’s characterization of the Makran coast as volcanic was linked to the mud volcanoes he describes in a preceding sentence. Ras Koocheree is shown on Snead's 1967 map of the coast.)

The precise identification of 1765 as the year of a great earthquake is obviously inappropriate based on the vague mention of the timing of the earlier event.  Byrne et al. [1992] identify this earthquake as a great rupture beneath the westernmost end of the Makran subduction zone.  However, a landslide could have also been triggered by a large strike-slip earthquake on the southernmost Ornach-Nal fault system.  It is even possible that no large earthquake occurred around 1765; the landslide could have been spontaneous, or the result of unusually heavy rain.

19 April 1851 at 5 pm: Not a great earthquake

Three shocks caused minor damage in Gwadar in 1851. Byrne et al. [1992] cite Quittmeyer and Jacob [1979] as a reference to this event. They cite Oldham's [1883] catalog who like Ambraseys and Melville [1982] cites Merewether [1851]. The actual account is barely two lines "19th April 1851-At 5 PM, three shocks felt at Gwadir in Mekran - several houses destroyed". Quittmeyer and Jacob [1979] do not include the earthquake on their list of documented south-central Asian earthquakes that produced maximum intensity of VIII or greater.  Walton’s 1864 letter from Gwadar discussed above, written just 13 years after 1851 makes no mention of a large earthquake.

28 November 1945 Makran Mw 8.1 Earthquake

References

• Ambraseys, N.N., and Melville, C.P., (1982). A History of Persian Earthquakes, Cambridge University Press, London, pp.219.
  
• Ambraseys, N., and R. Bilham, (2003)  Earthquakes and crustal deformation in northern Baluchistan, Bull. Seism Soc. Am. 93(4), 1573-1600.
  
• Merewether, W., (1852), A report of the disastrous consequences of the severe earthquake felt in the provinces of Upper Scinde on the 24th January 1852. J. Bombay Geog. Soc., 10, 284-6
• Apel et al., E., R. Bürgmann, P. Bannerjee, and B. Nagarajan, (2006). Geodetically constrained Indian Plate motion and implications for plate boundary deformation, Eos Trans. AGU, 85(52), Fall Meeting Supplement, T51B-1524
• Bendick and Bilham, (1999). Search for buckling of the southwest Indian coast related to Himalayan collision. In Himalaya and Tibet: mountain roots to mountain tops.  Ed. A. Macfarlane, R. Sorkhabi, and J. Quade.  Geological Society of America  Special Paper 328.  pp.313-323.
• Bilham, R. S. Lodi, S. Hough, S. Bukhary, Abid Murtaza Khan, and S.F.A. Rafeeqi, (2007) Seismic Hazard in Karachi, Pakistan: Uncertain Past, Uncertain Future, Seism. Res. Lett. in review.
• Byrne, D.E., L.R. Sykes, and D.M. Davis (1992).  Great thrust earthquakes and aseismic slip along the plate boundary of the Makran subduction zone, J. Geophys. Res. 97, 449-478
• Kukowski, N., T. Schillhorn, E. R. Flueh, & K. Huhn, (2000). Newly identified strike-slip plate boundary in the northeastern Arabian Sea, Geology,  28:, 355-358
• Oldham, T., (1883). Catalog of Indian earthquakes, Mem. Geol. Surv. India, 19, 163-215, Calcutta.
• Pendse, C. G., (1948). The Makran earthquake of the 28th of November, 1945, Sci. Notes, 10, 141-145, Indian Meteorological Dept.
• Snead, R. E., Active Mud Volcanoes of Baluchistan, W. Pakistan (1964), Geographical Review, 54(4), 546-560.
• Snead, R. E., (1967) Recent Morphological Changes along the Coast of West Pakistan. Ann. Ass. Amer. Geog., 57(3), 550-565.
• Sondhi,V. P.(1947). The Makran earthquake, 28th Nov 1945, the birth of new islands. Indian Minerals,1(3) 146-8.
• Walton, H.I. (1864). correspondence, 27 August 1864., in Proc. Geog. Soc. Bombay, 17, cxxv.