November 27, 1945 Earthquake: Makran Coast, Pakistan

1945, Nov 28, 21:56:40 UTC. Mekran Coast, northern Arabian Sea. 24 deg 12 min N., 62 deg 36 min E., magnitude 6.65. The sea wave swept the whole of the Arabian sea coast causing casualties as far away as Bombay, and producing noticeable effects at Karwar (14 deg 48 min N, 74 deg 08 min E) about 1,000 miles from the epicenter. Waves supposedly, caused by the shock, were recorded on the tide gauge at Victoria, Mahe Island, Seychelles, about 1,780 miles away. (ref #42)

1945 Nov 27, 21:57.0 UTC. 25 N, 60.5 E, magnitude 8.25 MS, Iran, off southeast coast. Strong seismic sea waves. Destructive at Ormara, Baluchistan and Karachi, India. 4,000 persons reported killed. (ref #45)

1945 Nov 27, 21:56 UTC. 25.02 N, 63.47 E. In the early hours of 28 November (local time) the Makran coast of Pakistan was shaken by one of the largest earthquakes of this century (M = 8.1). Fortunately the region affected, between Karachi and the Persian borders, is singularly sparsely populated with only three small coastal towns, i.e. Ormara, Pasni and Gwadur, which are devoid of any engineered structure, most buildings consisting of mat huts and one-storey adobe houses. Pasni is an open roadstead and port of about 2000 inhabitants, built on a sandbank connecting the headland of Zarrin with the mainland. The earthquake destroyed 80% of the houses, killing about 45 people. A part of the town was involved in a submarine slide which submerged a zone along the shore so that the coast today is about 100 m inland... The total number of people killed in this earthquake does not seem to have exceeded 300. This figure includes those drowned by the seismic sea-wave (tsunami) that accompanied the event and which added significantly to the overall damage caused by the main shock. At least three waves followed the earthquake. (ref #1117)

1945 Nov 27. Arabian Sea earthquake, 24.5 N, 63 E, magnitude 8.3 (ref #1212)

1945 Nov 27. Arabian Sea earthquake & tsunami, 14.12 N, 62.36 E, magnitude 8.3, several people killed. (ref #96)

1945 Nov 27. Mekran Coast, intensity III which corresponds to an earthquake which would destroy towns or devastate districts: the acceleration of the ground in these cases exceeds 5 feet per sec per sec. (ref #1216)

1945 November 27. Makran earthquake, 300 deaths, $25 million damage (ref #1051)

1945 Nov 27, 21:56:50 UTC, 24.5 N 63 E, magnitude: 8.0 MS, 7.7 Mb (ref #1092); 8.3 MS (ref #88); 8.25 MS (ref #130); 8.0 Mw, 8.0 Ms (ref #9910)

1945 Nov 27, 21:56:54.39 UTC. 24.927 N, 63.601 E, depth 15 km, magnitude 8.1 Mw (ref #10476)

1945 Nov 27. This event occurred 250-350 west of Karachi and was recorded globally. Walton's 1864 concerns about submarine cables were borne out when this earthquake occurred, as cables broke in eight places due to submarine slides. To reconcile observed shoreline uplift with the mechanism of the earthquake, Byrne et al. (1992) argue for a rupture on a thrust plane with a 5 deg dip, extending 70-90 km inland to 10-30 km offshore. Based on the distribution of intensities, morphological changes, and the sparse distribution of recorded aftershocks, the rupture is inferred to have propagated south-southeast with a duration of 56 s, suggesting a rupture dimension of 80-150 km extending eastward from Pasni. Numerous mud volcanoes erupted inland and offshore, creating four transient islands of stiff clay with 200-300 m dimensions in ~10m water depths coastward of a line connecting the horsts at Pasni and Ormara. The coastline at Pasni subsided and the tombola at Ormara was raised 2 m. Numerous aftershocks were recorded and locally felt (ref #1117); (ref #10754). (ref #8275)

THE TOTAL LOSS OF LIFE “does not seem to have exceeded 300,” including 20 deaths from building collapse in Ormara. (ref #12912)