June 26, 1941 Tsunami: Andaman Sea, E. Coast India

1941, June 26. Tsunami on the East Coast of India and Tsunami in the Andaman Sea, 5000 deaths?. (reference #96)

1941, June 26. Andaman earthquake had a moment magnitude Mw 7.7 and was located at 12.1 N and 92.5 E (Bilham et al., 2005). A tsunami was triggered by this earthquake in the Bay of Bengal. Height of the tsunami was reported to be of the order of 0.75 to 1.25 meters. At the time no tidal gauge was in operation. Mathematical calculations suggest that the height could be of the order of l m. This tsunami was witnessed along the eastern coast of India. It is believed that nearly 5,000 people were killed by the tsunami on the east coast of India. Local newspapers are believed to have mistaken the deaths and damage to a storm surge, however, a search of meteorological records does not show any storm surge on that day on the Coromandel Coast (Murty, 1984). National dailies like the Times of India, which reported the quake's shaking effects, did not mention any deaths, either as a result of a storm surge or a tsunami. (reference #2771)

The most recent of the major earthquakes in the Andaman Islands preceding the 2004 rupture occurred in 1941, a year before Japanese occupation of the islands. The earthquake was described only after the Second World War Ghingran, 1953; Krishnan, 1953). Although the tsunami generated by the 1941 earthquake is stated to have caused much loss of life along the east coast of India (Murty and Rafiq, 1991), no official (or unofficial) account of the impact of the remote tsunami has been discovered. Jhingran describes the loss of low-lying western-facing forest cover on the Andamans, presumably by a tsunami, but mentions no loss of life. Eyewitness reports published informally by the Society of Andaman and Nicobar Ecology (SANE) following the 2004 earthquake add further details to the official 1941 accounts. The central watchtower of the cellular jail in Port Blair collapsed along with a hospital and other masonry structures. Eyewitnesses spoke of subsidence of Ross Island (as in the recent earthquake), requiring its abandonment in favor of the current mainland capital, Port Blair. (reference #8835)

The small tsunami results from a combination of that mechanism and of a source located under the islands themselves and in shallow water, implying a reduction in amplitude under Green's law when transitioning to a deeper basin[...]Murty and Rafiq (1991) suggested that it resulted in 5000 deaths in India. However, Ortiz and Bilham (2003) and Bilham et al. (2005) have failed to unravel any scientific or press evidence to support this assertion (in contrast, e.g., to the Car Nicobar event of 1881), casting strong doubt on its veracity: it is extremely unlikely that a 1-m tsunami would result in such a death toll. (reference #12507)

Finally, the 1941 earthquake in the Andaman often appears in lists of IOT, but we could find no direct observation of a tsunami associated with this event (e.g. Jhingran 1952, only reports ‘‘there is no doubt that extensive waves’’ impacted the Andamans). Murty and Rafiq (1991) claim this event killed 5000 people along the west coast of India, but neither our archive search nor that of Ortiz and Bilham (2003) were able to confirm this claim. (reference #2725)

An earthquake of magnitude 8.1 occurred in the Andaman Sea at 12.9 N and 92.5 E on 26th June 1941 and a tsunami hit the east coast ofIndia. As per nonscientific/ journalistic sources the height of the tsunami was of the order of 0.75 to 1.25 m. At that time no tide gauge was in operation. (reference #8776)