September 1, 1803 Earthquake: Uttarakhand, Mathura (Muttra), India
A magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck Uttarakhand, Mathura (Muttra), India on September 1, 1803.
Map
Where it struck, with the other significant earthquakes within 200 km. Circles are sized and colored by magnitude; select one for its page.
The earthquake
- Date
- September 1, 1803
- Place
- Uttarakhand, Mathura (Muttra), India
- Magnitude
- 7.5 (Mw)
- Tsunami
- None recorded
- Epicenter
- 31.000° N, 79.000° E
- Country
- India
The toll
- Deaths
- Many (about 101 to 1,000)
- Damage
- Severe (about $5 to $25 million)
- Houses destroyed
- Many (101 to 1,000)
- Houses damaged
- Many (101 to 1,000)
Where the literature gives no number, NCEI records a description on a scale of 1 to 4, printed here in its words. Damage is in millions of US dollars of the year of the event, not adjusted for inflation.
What the record says
NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.
Reference #12711:
The effects of the earthquake are said to have been very destructive to houses and to human life, chiefly in the mountainous parts of the districts of Tehri Garhwal and Bashhar in the High Himalaya, and to the south in the alluvial plain of the Ganges.
The northern most point of the region for which we have information is Barahat on the Bhagiratie river, where all the temples were more or less shattered, one collapsed and many of its houses were ruined with the loss of 200-300 lives, a significant number for this sparsely inhabited region.
Other significant earthquakes nearby
Within 200 km, the deadliest first.
- October 19, 1991, Chamoli, Uttarkashi, New Delhi, Chandigarh, India
- March 28, 1999, Chamoli, Rudraprayag, Tehri Garhwal, India
- January 19, 1975, Kinnaur District, Kashmir, India
- December 14, 2005, Jausari, Chamoli, Nandprayag, India
- August 16, 2005, Uttarkahi, Uttaranchal, India
- July 22, 2007, Uttarkashi, Chamoli, Muzaffarnagar, India
- May 1, 2010, Chamoli, India
- June 22, 2010, Tauli, India
More
Significant earthquakes of 1803The 1800sRecent earthquakes near hereThis day in weather history
Sources
Significant earthquakes from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, Global Historical Hazard Database, cited as NCEI/WDS, doi:10.7289/V5PN93H7. Public domain. Read 2026-09-24. NCEI earthquake 1563.