The 1934 Nepal–India earthquake or 1934 Bihar–Nepal earthquake was one of the worst

earthquake An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...

s in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

's history. The towns of

Munger Munger, formerly spelt as Monghyr, is a twin city and a Municipal Corporation situated in the Indian state of Bihar. It is the administrative headquarters of Munger district and Munger Division. Munger was one of the major cities in Eastern ...

and

Muzaffarpur Muzaffarpur () is a city located in Muzaffarpur district on the banks of Burhi Gandak River, Burhi Gandak river in the Tirhut division of the Indian state of Bihar. It serves as the headquarters of the Tirhut division, the Muzaffarpur distri ...

were completely destroyed. This 8.0

magnitude Magnitude may refer to: Mathematics *Euclidean vector, a quantity defined by both its magnitude and its direction *Magnitude (mathematics), the relative size of an object *Norm (mathematics), a term for the size or length of a vector *Order of ...

earthquake occurred on 15 January 1934 at around 2:13 pm IST (08:43

UTC Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is the primary time standard globally used to regulate clocks and time. It establishes a reference for the current time, forming the basis for civil time and time zones. UTC facilitates international communica ...

) and caused widespread damage in northern

Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...

and in

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

Earthquake

The epicentre for this event was located in eastern Nepal about south of

Mount Everest Mount Everest (), known locally as Sagarmatha in Nepal and Qomolangma in Tibet, is Earth's highest mountain above sea level. It lies in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas and marks part of the China–Nepal border at it ...

. The areas where the most damage to life and property occurred extended from

Purnea Purnia (; also romanized and officially known as Purnea) is the fourth largest city of Bihar and is emerging as the largest economic hub in North Bihar. It serves as the administrative headquarters of both Purnia district and Purnia divisio ...

in the east to

Champaran Champaran is a region in Bihar, India. It is now divided into two districts: East Champaran and West Champaran. History Champaran is identified with the ''Champāraṇya'' mentioned in the Bheraghat inscription as a place "devastated" b ...

in the west (a distance of nearly ), and from

Kathmandu Kathmandu () is the capital and largest city of Nepal, situated in the central part of the country within the Kathmandu Valley. As per the 2021 Nepal census, it has a population of 845,767 residing in 105,649 households, with approximately 4 mi ...

in the north to

in the south (a distance of nearly ). The impact was reported to be felt in

Lhasa Lhasa, officially the Chengguan District of Lhasa City, is the inner urban district of Lhasa (city), Lhasa City, Tibet Autonomous Region, Southwestern China. Lhasa is the second most populous urban area on the Tibetan Plateau after Xining ...

Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

, and from

Assam Assam (, , ) is a state in Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra Valley, Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . It is the second largest state in Northeast India, nor ...

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

. The earthquake was so severe that in

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

, around 650 km (404 mi) from epicenter, many buildings were damaged and the tower of

St. Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of St Paul the Apostle, is an Anglican cathedral in London, England, the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London in the Church of Engl ...

collapsed.

Ground effects

A particular phenomenon of the earthquake was that sand and water vents appeared throughout the central vents of the earthquake area. The ground around these sand fissures subsided, causing more damage. Extensive

liquefaction In materials science, liquefaction is a process that generates a liquid from a solid or a gas or that generates a non-liquid phase which behaves in accordance with fluid dynamics. It occurs both naturally and artificially. As an example of t ...

of the ground took place over a length of 300 km (called the slump belt) during the earthquake, in which many structures went afloat. In

, sand fissures erupted at several places in town. The wells were choked with sand, while water levels in tanks became shallower due to sand deposited in the tank beds. Most of the buildings in Muzzafarpur were damaged. All the kutcha (ramshackle) buildings collapsed, while other pukka (solidly built) buildings suffered damage due to sinking and cracking of the ground.

Damage

The three major towns of the

Kathmandu Valley The Kathmandu Valley (), also known as the Nepal Valley or Nepa Valley (, Newar language, Nepal Bhasa: 𑐣𑐾𑐥𑐵𑑅 𑐐𑐵𑑅, नेपाः गाः), National Capital Area, is a bowl-shaped valley located in the Himalayas, Hima ...

—

Bhaktapur Bhaktapur (Nepali language, Nepali and Sanskrit: भक्तपुर, ; "City of Devotees"), known locally as Khwopa (Nepal Bhasa: , ) and historically called Bhadgaon, is a city in the east corner of the Kathmandu Valley in Nepal located abou ...

and Patan—were severely affected and almost all the buildings collapsed. Large cracks appeared in the ground and several roads were damaged in Kathmandu; however, the

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

of Pashupatinath, the guardian deity of Nepal, escaped any damage. The 1618-meter-long Kosi Rail Bridge on the

Metre Gauge Metre-gauge railways ( US: meter-gauge railways) are narrow-gauge railways with track gauge of or 1 metre. Metre gauge is used in around of tracks around the world. It was used by several European colonial powers including France, Britain and ...

Railway line connecting Darbhanga Raj with Forbesganj was washed away and the River Kosi changed its path eastward. In

Sitamarhi Sitamarhi is the headquarters of the Sitamarhi district in Tirhut Division, Bihar. The city was named in honour of Sītā, wife of Rāma, who was born in Sitamarhi according to Hindu legends. In 1875, a subdivision for Sitamarhi was create ...

, not a single house was left standing. In

Bhagalpur district Bhagalpur district is one of the thirty-eight districts of Bihar state, India. It is one of the oldest districts of Bihar. Bhagalpur city is the administrative headquarters of the district. Geography Bhagalpur district occupies an area of . Bha ...

many buildings collapsed. In

Patna Patna (; , ISO 15919, ISO: ''Paṭanā''), historically known as Pataliputra, Pāṭaliputra, is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, ...

, many buildings in the bazaar were destroyed and damage was particularly severe along the river. In Rajnagar, near Madhubani, all the Kutcha buildings collapsed. The buildings of Darbhanga Raj, including the famous Navlakha Palace, were severely damaged. In

Jharia Jharia is a neighbourhood in Dhanbad city in Dhanbad Sadar subdivision of Dhanbad district in Jharkhand state, India. Jharia's economy is heavily dependent on the local coal fields, used to make coke. However, fires in the coal fields have mad ...

the earthquake led to further spread of underground fire. The town of

Birgunj Birgunj () is a metropolitan city in Parsa District in Madhes Pradesh in southern Nepal. It lies south of the capital Kathmandu, attached in the north to Raxaul on the border of the Indian state of Bihar. As an entry point to Nepal from Patn ...

was destroyed, along with its telephone line to Kathmandu.Bipin Adhikari
The Great Earthquake of 1934
. ''NewSpotLight Nepal News Magazine'', Vol. 8, No. 22, 22 May 2015. Accessed 29 May 2015. The number of deaths was 10,700–12,000 with 7,253 recorded in Bihar. A 1935 work by Major General Brahma Shamsher documenting the event, ''Nepalko Maha Bhukampa 1990'', stated that this was Nepal's most destructive earthquake in living memory, and praised the

Nepalese Army The Nepali Army (), also referred to as the Gorkhali Army (; see ''Gurkha, Gorkhas''), formally known as "Royal Nepal Army" is the Ground warfare, land Military branch, service branch of the Nepalese Armed Forces, Nepali Armed Forces. After t ...

for its work in relief efforts.

Aftermath

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethics, political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful Indian ...

visited the Bihar state. He wrote that the Bihar earthquake was providential retribution for India's failure to eradicate

untouchability Untouchability is a form of social institution that legitimises and enforces practices that are discriminatory, humiliating, exclusionary and exploitative against people belonging to certain social groups. Although comparable forms of discrimin ...

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Thakur (; anglicised as Rabindranath Tagore ; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengalis, Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer, and painter of the Bengal Renai ...

took offence to the irrationality in his statement and accused Gandhi of superstition, even though he was totally in agreement with Gandhi on the issue of untouchability. In Bihar, Sri Babu (

Shri Krishna Sinha Shri Krishna Singh (Sinha) (21 October 1887 – 31 January 1961), also known as Shri Babu, was the first List of chief ministers of Bihar, chief minister of the Indian state of Bihar (1946–61). Except for the period of World War II, Sinha was ...

) and the other great leader Anugrah Babu (

Anugrah Narayan Sinha Anugrah Narayan Sinha (18 June 1887 – 5 July 1957), known as ''Honorary titles of Indian leaders, Bihar Vibhuti'', was an Indian nationalist politician, participant in Champaran Satyagraha, Gandhian & one of the architects of modern Bihar, wh ...

), threw themselves into relief work. Maghfoor Ahmad Ajazi, an eminent freedom fighter, worked extensively in the earthquake relief operations. He operated several relief camps providing the affected people with food and shelter.

References

External links

1934 Mw 8.1 Bihar/Nepal earthquake 15 January 1934
–

Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences The Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) is a research institute that is sponsored jointly by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) and the Uni ...

Intensity Map
– Amateur Seismic Centre * {{DEFAULTSORT:1934 Nepal-India earthquake Earthquakes in India Bihar Earthquake, 1934 Earthquakes in Nepal Bihar Earthquake, 1934 Natural disasters in Bihar 1934 in Nepal January 1934 Megathrust earthquakes in India 1934 disasters in India 1934 disasters in Nepal