April 2, 1762 Earthquake: Chittagong, Dacca, Arracan, Bangladesh

Hindostan, 1762-The town of Chittagong, in Bengal, was violently shaken by an earthquake, on April 2, 1762, the earth opening in many places, and throwing up water and mud of a sulphureous smell. At a place called Bardavao, a large river was dried up; and at Bar Charra, near the sea, a tract of ground sank down, and 200 persons with all their cattle, were lost. It is said that 60 square miles of the Chittagong coast suddenly and permanently subsided during this earthquake, and that Ces-lung-Toom, one of the Mug mountains, entirely disappeared, and another sank so low, that its summit only remained visible. Towns which subsided several cubits were overflowed with water; among others Deep Gong, which was submerged to the depth of 7 cubits. Two volcanoes are said to have opened in the Becta Cunda hills. The shock was also felt at Calcutta. While the Chittagong coast was sinking, a corresponding rise of the ground took place at the island of Ramree, and at Cheduba. Lyell's source is McClelland's Report of Min. Resources of India, 1838, Calcutta. (reference #1503)

April 2, 1762,17:00 hr, Burma, 22 N, 92 E. 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. (reference #1185)

April 2, 1762, 22 N, 92 E, intensity XI. (reference #1276)

April 2, 1762, India, felt all over Bengal, Arracan, and Burmah, Pegu, northeast coast of Bay of Bengal elevated along a length of 100 miles, Brahmaputra to Calcutta, Dacaa, Ghirotty, Chittagong and Bakar Tschurak, intensity II which corresponds to buildings may be unroofed or shattered and some may fall, the ground may be badly cracked in places and small landslips occur. (reference #1055)

April 2, 1762, Felt all over Bengal, Arracan and Burma, intensity II which which corresponds to an earthquake which would uproot or shatter buildings, cause bad cracks in ground, or landslips. Acceleration of the ground will be roughly of the order of 5 feet per sec per sec. (reference #1216)

April 2, 1762, (Bengal and Burma) Felt most severely along the N-E coast of the Bay of Bengal. Chittagong suffered severely, fissures opening in the ground with fountains of water and sand. Probably the origin was in the sea off Chittagong. (reference #1100)

April 2, 1762, Chittagong, Bangladesh. (reference #1212)

April 12, 1762. Earthquake felt most severely along the north western coast of the Bay of Bengal. Waves as high as six feet were reported from the distributaries of the Ganges

Delta. (references Oldham, reference #4110).

The most damaging earthquake reported in Bangladesh was the 2 April AD1762 event that occurred at 5 p.m. local time. The great earthquake of April 2, which raised the coast of Foul island by 2.74m and the northwest coast of Chedua island by 6.71m above sea level and also caused a permanent submergence of 155.40 sq km near Chittagong. The earthquake proved very violent in Dhaka and along the eastern bank of the meghna as far as Chittagong. In Dhaka 500 persons lost their lives, the rivers and jheels were agitated and rose high above their usual levels and when they receded their banks were strewn with dead fish. A large river dried up, a tract of land sank and 200 people with all their cattle were lost. Two volcanoes were said to have opened in the Sitakunda hills (Ali and Choudhury 1994,2001; BBS 2017).

This event occurred along the Arakan Subduction Zone that caused uplift of ~3-7 m along the coasts of Ramree, Cheduba, and Foul Islands, located offshore of the Arakan coast of Myanmar10, and also generated a tsunami. (reference #12708)