1770 Earthquake: Sumatra, Indonesia

Reference #414:

1770, no date, 5 S, 102 E, magnitude 7. In the Bengkulu district (Sumatra Island), there was a very strong earthquake. A settlement was destroyed. The ground cracked. One of the cracks had a length of 500 m, a width of 3 1/2 m and a depth of 8 m, and from it oozed a bituminous substance. At the same time, a section of coast near the mouth of the Padang Gutongi River, which flows in the Mana district, dried up. Finally, a tidal wave occurred simultaneously with the earthquake.

As Wichmann notes, the year given is tentative. The event could have coincided with the earthquake experienced at Bengkulu by Ch. Miller, who says: "One earthquake, in particular, after my arrival here was very strong and did much damage in the country. The Dempo Volcano, visible from Fort Malboro at Bengkulu and smoking almost constantly, ejected flames during the earthquake" (Wichmann, 1918).

Reference #13384:

1770, Sumatra. No date given (same as previous? [28 Sep Java]). A village was destroyed. Numerous modern studies (e.g., Vissier, 1922) associate this event with a tsunami possibly derived from Wichmann's work (1918). The only primary information for this event comes from Marsden (1784) who describes what can be interpreted as mass wasting, possible lateral spreading and the appearance of "a large plain, seven miles long and half a mile wide; where there had been before only a narrow beach"