6 



COGGIN BKOWN : THE BURMA EARTHQUAKES OF MAY L912. 



severe shock was experienced during the early hours of the morning 

 m Maymyo. 



The following list of areas affected by some of the larger tectonic 



earthquakes of historic times has been compiled 



Comparison with uy farr and Martin( 2 ) and to it the Burma 



qiiak^s g " earthquake of May 23rd, 1912, has been added 



for comparison : 





1 



Approximate 

 Area aSeoted. 



Centre. 



Date. 







Sq. miles. 



Lisbon, Portugal ..... 



I :.-).-) 



2,240,000t 



New .Madrid. Mo. ..... 



1811 



1,260,000 



Charleston, 8. C. 



1886 



2300,000 



Riviera ....... 



1887 



219.000 



Sonera, Mexico ..... 



1887 



500,000 



Japan ....... 



1X91 



330,000 



Assam ....... 



1897 



1,750,000 



Yakut at Bay, Alaska .... 



IX!)!) 



1,539,000 



Kangra ....... 



]!)<>.-, 



1,500.000 



San Francisco, Cal. ..... 



1906 



:572,TOO 



Burma ...... 



L912 



375,000 



It will be seen that the Burma earthquake ranks with the smaller 



of the great tectonic earthquakes quoted in the above list as 



regards extent of area disturbed. Like the Yakutat Bay shocks 



the Burma disturbance is in decided contrast with the others, all 



of which took place in densely populated districts and caused 



great destruction of human life and property. In Burma with one 



or two doubtful exceptions, no loss of life was reported, and the 



damage caused to property, though extensive, was incomparably 



smaller than that caused by the other listed shocks. This is largely 



due to the scanty population of the severely shaken tracts, and to 



the character of the dwellings in which this population lives. It 



is also interesting to note that the ratio of the area over which 



buildings were damaged, to the total area over which the shock was 



sensible, is about the same in the cases of the Burma and Assam 



quakes. 



' Ralph. S. Tarr. and Lawrence Martin : The earthquakes a! Yakutat Bay, Alaska 

 inSeptemher 1899. U. 8. G<ol. Sure, I'rof. Paper 69, 1912, p. 1:'8. 

 | According to Oldham perhaps only 1,000,000 sq. miles. 







