Oldham, R. D. Note on the earthquake of 31 December 1881, Records of the Geological Survey of India,, XVII(2), 47-53, 1884.

"On the morning of the 31 December 1881 a severe earthquake was felt over a large portion of the Indian Peninsula and Bengal, affecting also the Burmese coast and causing much damage in the Andaman and Nicobar islands. A considerable amount of material, comprising newspaper extracts, official reports and private letters, having been placed at my disposal, I propose giving a brief notice of the more important features of the shock.

In Bengal it was felt as far as Chunar, Gaya and Hazaribagh; Akra in the 24-Parganas, was shaken; and at Akyab it was followed by the eruption of a mud volcano at Ramri (Records Geological Survey of India, 15, 141). There is no record of it having been felt at Rangoon or Moulmein [in a footnote Oldham states that Walker (1884) claims incorrectly that it was felt at both Rangoon and Moulmein]; at Tenasserim (12.1N , 99.1 E) it is doubtful, though it was felt in the Mergui archipelago; to the south is reported as having been 'severe' at Acheen in Sumatra, and at 3°54' N, 91°21' E it was felt by the ship Mount Stuart; at Oortacamund it is recorded, as also at Calicut: thus the area over which it was felt measures about 1,600 miles from north to south and 1,500 miles from east to west, or 2,000,000 square miles in all.

Such briefly is the summary of the information contained in the daily papers, and as no observation of scientific value is recorded in them which has not been placed at my disposal in another form, I shall refrain from repeating the vague, when not misleading, statements of the time and nature of the shock which were so given to the world (I may however, mention one letter by Mr. W.G. Simmons of Calcutta published in the Indian Daily news. He seems to have been at some trouble to collect information, and I have to thank him for liberally placing it at my disposal).

There is, however, one published notice which contains much valuable information. I refer to the note by General Walker, and Major M. W. Rogers, R.E. (originally published in the Annual Report of the Trigonometrical Survey, and reprinted in the Proc. Asiatic Soc. Bengal, March 1883, p.60) on the records left by the earthquake, and its consequent sea-wave on the tide-gauges fixed along the shores of the Bay of Bengal, illustrated by reductions from the original records and a chart of the Bay of Bengal, on which Major Rogers has marked what he considers to be the focus of the disturbance For the benefit of those who may not have access to the original, I subjoin a short abstract of the information contained.

At Port Blair, the forced sea wave, indicating the arrival of the earth-wave, is indicated at 7:42 ; the first sea wave arrived at 08:03. (footnote: these times differ from those originally given, having been retaken with greater care from the original records). The times here and throughout this notice are reduced to Port Blair mean time, and for the sea waves are the arrival of the first wave). Followed by others at 15 minutes interval, with a height of 3 feet from crest to hollow, the disturbance not entirely subsiding till 21:00.

Diamond Harbour – Sea wave hardly perceptible.

Dublat – First sea wave at 13h, disturbance continued till 21 h.

False Point – Forced sea wave at 7:43, sea waves small, the first arrived at 11:15.

Vizgapatam - The sea wave arrived at 10:43 followed by others until midnight.

Madras - Sea wave arrived at 10:18.

Negapatam -The first wave arrived at 10:15, measured 4 feet from crest to hollow and was followed by others until midnight.

Pamban- First wave at 11:32, disturbance lasted until midnight.

At Calcutta the time of arrival of the earthquake was noted by Mr. James Murray, who writes, in reply to my inquiries, that he was reading in an upstairs room when feeling the shock he immediately ran downstairs and marked on the glass of his standard regulating clock, the exact position of the second's hand and then waited to note the time of cessation of motion; afterwards he carefully took with a second's watch the time that occupied to do all he done between the moment he first felt the shock and when he made the first mark on the clock, adding this and the error of the clock on that morning, he obtained the times of commencement and cessation as 7:37:45 and 7:42:00 Calcutta Mean time, or 7:55:02 and 7:59:17 Port Blair mean time, respectively. This, I may add, is the only observation of real value made at the time and not automatically recorded that I know of in connection with this shock.

At Madras a clock in the office of the Master Attendant, electronically controlled from the astronomical observatory, was stopped at 07:05:45 local time or 07:55:36 Port Blair mean time.

"The only published record of [the Kisseraing seismic arrival] observation is that in Major Rogers' note, where he says that “at Madras. False Point, and Kisseraing the shock was felt at about the same minute – 7:55” it will be seen that this is rather vague, and a personal application to Major Rogers elicited the fact that the original record had been destroyed, and it was consequently no longer possible to estimate the degree of accuracy of the time record"

"Port Blair is the only place where any damage was done to masonry buildings, and it is to be regretted that the damage should be so little instructive as is the case. The infantry barrack, of which I have drawings showing the damage dome, is a long narrow building situated on the crest of a hill, the major axis bearing N20E, while the cross walls bear E20S. The latter were severely crack, while with a single exception not a crack has opened in the longitudinal walls; this might indicate a direction nearly N20E or S20W but is most probably, as will be seen from the sequel, due to their being of less solid construction. As regards the angle of emergence; the former would be indicated by the fact that a chimney shaft 60 feet high was cracked but not overthrown, as it certainly must have been by a severe shock with a moderate angle of emergence."

"In the Nicobar extensive damage was done to the cocoanut groves and the huts of the natives, and vents similar to those described in connection with the Cachar earthquake of 1869 were opened in sandy soil. It was noted by Major W. B. Birch that on the margin of the seashore the trees were left standing, while further inland they were overthrown. The sea wave broke on this island and it is recorded that the water penetrated into the houses of the Burmese residents which stood on platforms of less than 2.5 feet high, while those on higher platforms escaped."

"The master of the ship Commonwealth reported that he felt three shocks of earthquake on 1 Jan 1882 at 8°20'N, 92°42' E, and that the whole of the Car Nicobar was hidden by smoke." This shock was stated in the daily papers to have been felt in Kathmandu in Nepal, but to judge from the more detailed information placed at my disposal, this cannot have been the same shock."

Walker, J. T., The earthquake of the 31 December 1881, General Report on the Operations of the Survey of India 1881-1882, 53-55, 1883. (also Reprinted in Proc. Asiatic Society of Bengal, March 1883. P.60)

"On the morning of the 31 December 1881 an earthquake occurred in the Bay of Bengal which operated with considerable violence in the vicinity of the Andaman and Nicobar islands, and with more or less violence along the entire length of the west coast of the Bay, from Ceylon to Calcutta, and was also felt , though comparatively slightly, at various points on the east coast. In addition to ordinary shocks produced by the waves of force acting through the ground, the surface of the ocean was greatly disturbed, and waves were formed which continued to roll against the coastlines for several hours after the cessation of the earth-waves, which lasted for only a few seconds.

The clerk in charge of the tidal observatory at Port Blair reported a great disturbance of the surface of the sea to have taken place there, which had violently agitated the pencil of the self registering tide gauge, causing it to oscillate in the course of a few minutes through spaces nearly equal to the entire normal semi-diurnal oscillation, and after a time to tear the paper of the diagram. This had alarmed him so much that he stopped the clock and did not restart it for some hours, when there was less agitation of the sea surface. He then found by the diagram that the earthquake waves were still existing and were following one another with great regularity; and they continued to do so for about 25 hours after the first shock of the earthquake was felt, when they died away.

The diagrams at all the other tidal stations the same day were then examined, and evidence of a succession of ocean waves caused by the earth-wave was unmistakable on the west coast of the Bay and at Dublat station –at the south end of Saugur island; but there appeared to be no disturbance whatsoever either of the river-surface at Rangoon and Moulmein, or of the ocean surface at Amherst, and these are the only points on or near the east coast of the Bay at which tidal registrations were being taken.

Diagrams of the disturbed tidal curves, reduced from the original records, are given to indicate what actually took place at each spot and at the same moment of time. For the latter purpose all the hour lines of the diagrams have reference to local mean time at Port Blair. The curves from midnight of the 30 Dec up to the times when the sea waves began to reach each station –which fall between 8 A.M. at Port Blair and 1 P.M. at Dublat, and possible as late at 3 P.M. at Diamond Harbour- are normal in every instance.; and thus by comparing them with the remainder of the 24 hours, the influence of the earthquake in disturbing the normal tides can readily be seen. For Port Blair and for Negapatam the normal curves are drawn below the actual curves. At the former place the diagram was torn by the pencil, and the record is not continuous; at Negapatam the curve from midnight up to the commencement of the sea waves is vibratory (oscillatory) and not firm (steady), as at all the other stations; but there the curves are normally vibratory, probably because of the piping, connecting the well of the tide gauge into the sea. The longitude of the several tidal stations west of Port Blair, in time, are given in the margin.

Diamond Harbour 18 minutes

Dublat 20 minutes

False Point 24 minutes

Vizapatam 38 minutes

Madras 50 minutes

Negapatam 52 minutes

Pamban 54 minutes

Both the officers in charge of the tidal operations, first Major Hill and afterwards Major Rogers, have taken much pains to ascertain all the facts of the primary "Great Earth-wave" and the subsequent "Sea Waves". It so happens, that at the time of the occurrence of the Earth-Wave, Major Rogers was measuring angles with one of the great theodolites of the survey of India at a station on the island of Kisseraing (Burma 9°50' N, 98°50' E) below Tenasserim, on the coast of the Bay as a part of the operations which are described in paragraph 34 of the report. He writes that he "saw the earthquake before feeling it", as he was at that moment observing a signal – distant 15 miles – which appeared to rise and fall in the field of the telescope. On looking at the levels on his instrument, he found that they were violently agitated. He immediately recorded the time at which the phenomenon occurred. Subsequently he ascertained that the earthquake had been felt at almost the same moment , at False Point and Madras on the opposite coast. Thus then Major Rogers, assuming the great earthquake to have traveled at equal velocity in all directions from the origin or centre of the impulse, considers that the origin must have been situated at some point in the Bay nearly equi-distant from Madras, False Point, and Kisseraing, - not in the centre of the triangle joining the three places, but more to the south, towards the line joining Port Blair and Negapatam which was probably the line of greatest disturbance, as at those places the sea waves were greatest.

It is remarkable that there should be no indication of any sea wave at either of the tide al stations at Rangoon, Elephant Point, Moulmein or Amherst. This may be due to the circumstance that the belt of islands and shoal which extends from Cape Negrais down to the Island of Sumatra forms a barrier to waves from an origin near the centre of the Bay, the sea-waves were propelled with great violence against these islands on all sides and over the surrounding shallows, but they seem to have died away very rapidly in the deep sea beyond. Moreover the ear-wave must have operated with far greater force towards the west than towards the east of the centre of the impulse; for violent shocks were felt all along the west coast of the Bay, and to a considerable distance inland, whereas on the east coast the shocks were very slight and barely perceptible."