A PRELIMINARY NOTE ON THE PEGU EARTHQUAKE OF MAY 5TH 1930

Coggin Brown (1932); Records of the Geological Survey of India Vol. LXV, Part 2; Page
221-270

In an account of the Rangoon earthquakes of September and December 1927 (Rec

Geol.Surv. India LXII p.259, 1929), which were followed by further slight shocks in
January 1929, the question was asked ‘Are they the forerunners of a really disastrous
quake, or do they in themselves indicate a gradual release of pent-up forces by acting as a
kind of safety valve to growing earth pressure or strain?’ Unfortunately the first theory
has proved correct, for, at about 8-18 PM on the night of May 5th, 1930, a violent
shock occurred, which practically destroyed the town of Pegu with great loss of life,
caused many deaths and considerable damage to property in Rangoon and was
sensible to human beings, with continuously diminishing intensity, as far as the
Kyaukpyu and Mergui districts up and down the coasts of Burma respectively, as far
north as the Mongmit State in the Northern Shan States, and across the greater part of the
Southern Shan States and the Kingdom of Siam. The outer curve marking these
approximate limits passes into the Bay of Bengal, the Andaman Sea and the Gulf of
Siam, but the land area actually cannot be less than 220,000 square miles.

The earthquake was automatically registered by recording instruments at seismological

stations in every part of the world and there is little doubt that, had the epicentral area lain
in a populated tract where buildings were not of the flimsy bamboo and thatch type
prevalent in this country, its toll of destruction would have been far greater than was
actually the case.

[From page 271-278; Determination from World Records of the Zero Time and the
Epicentre of the Pegu Earthquake of May 5th 1930. S.W. Visser]

Fifty ‘P’ records give suitable results and a zero time of 13h 45m 41s GMT is derived.

The epicentral area of this earthquake was found by the Burma party of the Geological
Survey of India to be situated between longitudes 96° 30′ E and 96° 40′ E and latitudes
16° 40′ N and 17° 20′ N. From usual (S-P) method it has been impossible to locate the
epicenter satisfactorily; but by means of (P) method [explained in the paper] a position
was computed which lay exactly within the epicentral area. This position was at
longitude 96.7° E; latitude 17.2° N.

General Accounts of the Shock [p 223]

A striking feature of this earthquake was its appalling suddenness. It occurred in Pegu at
about 8-18 PM without any warning and within a few seconds a considerable portion of
the town was in ruins. Fire broke out at once and the official report gives a total death of
at least 500 and probably more. Most responsible observers agree that the quake has two
phases separated by a slight pause and that the second was the more severe. The total
duration does not appear to have been more than 30 seconds, the first phase only

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occupying between 3 and 4 seconds and the general direction of the greater shock being
NNW-SSE. The clock in the railway station stopped at 20-18.5 hrs (BST).There is no
doubt that the shock itself was accompanied by loud earth sounds, audible to most
observers. Large cracks appeared in the ground in parts of the town, from which in many
cases water and sand were extruded for some time. Portions of the river banks cracked
and slid into the stream. One witness records visible surface waves crossing a tennis
court, while the second phase was strong enough to fling people violently to the ground.
The famous Shwemawdaw Pagoda was seen to sway twice and finally fall half sliding
down its fractured base and crash southeastwards into the stalls at its foot, beneath which
many perished. The bazaar area on the north side of the Rangoon- Toungoo road
presented a picture of complete desolation in which fallen brick work, twisted iron
girders and charred woodwork lay in shapeless masses below a few burnt and leafless
trees. In the center of the town most of the buildings fell in a southeasterly direction; the
Thunpayagyi Pagoda was badly damaged. The massive minarets of the mosque were
thrown into the street. The Municipal building was perhaps the most striking ruin and a
ferro-concrete house at the eastern end of the bridge over the Pegu river was completely
wrecked. The Court House and the Office of the DC, a low, solid structure, were not
badly damaged; the Hospital and the Jail also escaped severe damage, but the Govt. High
School was practically destroyed. On the west bank of the river the damage, though
considerable, was not so great as on the eastern side. To the west of the railway the
damage was much less and it also appeared that only a short distance out of Pegu, along
the Rangoon road, the intensity of the shock must have been very much less than it was in
the center of the town. The Civil Station of Pegu lies on an inlier of Lower Delta
alluvium or of Irrawaddian rocks, which form a low ridge running north and south,
protruding through the newer alluvium that stretches for many miles on either side. This
ridge of sandy rock is lateritised and offers a much firmer foundation than the clay of the
alluvial plain. It is interesting to note that the houses on this ridge did not on the whole
suffer severely, though some of them were badly cracked.

In Rangoon over 50 persons were killed and many injured as a result of falling
masonry. People found it difficult to stand and a few were thrown to the ground. A
rumbling noise is said by some to have preceded the shock. Fire broke out and water
mains burst. There is evidence of two distinct movements, beginning with gentle tremors
from east to west and followed by north and south vibrations during the main shock.
Estimates of duration vary from 30 seconds to 1.5 minutes. The southern portion of the
city is built on alluvium and ‘made-ground’ and most of the damage was done in this area
rather than on the higher ground composed of Tertiary rocks further south. The majority
of observers describe the shock as a violent rocking motion, which caused hanging
objects to crash into walls and ceilings, overturned light furniture and threw bottles and
crockery from shelves.

In Dalla, which is opposite Rangoon on the other side of the river, the earthquake is
described as commencing with an even tremor for about 6 to 8 seconds, followed
suddenly by a second shock of much greater severity, with no pause between. The
Superintendent of the Dalla Dockyard thought that he was being thrown over a balcony
towards the north while the house appeared to be skidding about more or less from east to

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west. The Chimneys of rice mills from Kanounghto district were thrown down. In
Syriam, which lies to the east of Rangoon on the opposite side of the Pegu river, the
buildings are mostly wooden structures and the damage was not very serious. The
comparative escape of Syriam from serious damage was probably due to the fact that the
town is built on the more solid, lateritised, Irrawaddian rocks which make up the Syriam-
Kyauktan ridge, for the effects were much more serious a few miles away to the
southwest on the recent alluvium at Seikkyi and Thilwa. Some walkers were thrown to
the ground, others kept their feet with difficulty; the duration is estimated at about a
minute. Heavy almirahs were thrown over, stationary motor cars moved like boats in a
heavy sea. Water in the Kanzoung lake moved north and south; a 35.5 feet water cooling
tower in the oil refinery overturned. Beyond cracking in a few masonry buildings no
damage appears to have been caused at Insein, an industrial and residential town 10
miles NNW of Rangoon; walls and hanging objects sway in north-south direction with
overturning of a few lightly balanced objects.

The intensity of the shock appears to have died away rapidly to the north of Pegu. In
Toungoo, which is 120 miles away and the headquarters of the adjoining district, two and
three distinct phases were reported by some observers, while others describe it as a single
shock which swung hanging lamps from north to south, but was so slight that it was
unnoticed by many people. Tharrawaddy, the headquarters of the district of the same
name, 68 miles by railway to the NNW of Rangoon and 48 miles, as the crow flies,
approximately to the NW of Pegu, the whole thickness of the Pegu Yoma lying in
between. The first phase had now become little more than a gentle swaying motion of
short duration, followed after a slight pause by the severe shock, which seems to have
lasted much longer. No damage was caused; hanging objects swung in various directions,
doors rattled violently, trees swayed and birds disturbed.

Turning now to the headquarters of the district that adjoins Pegu on the east, but which is
separated from it by the Sittang river and the head of the Gulf of Martaban, we find that
in Thaton (68 miles SE of Pegu) there was one strong series of vibrations of 11 to 12
seconds duration; the populace was thoroughly alarmed and most of the residents of the
town rushed out into the streets. A few brick houses were cracked and some plaster fell.
The top of the main pagoda in the town was slanted over towards the east. Another
pagoda cracked and collapsed from its south side at a later date.

THE ISOSEISMALS [p 227]

A map (Plate 10) shows the disposition of isoseismal lines, as we have been able to
outline for this preliminary study. The Rossi- Forel scale has been used and we are of the
opinion that even within the epicentral tract, the intensity of the earthquake nowhere
exceeded degree IX of this scale, which involves partial or total destruction of some
buildings.

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Isoseismal IX

The region of maximum intensity included within isoseismal IX, measures approximately
375 square miles. It lies within the Pegu and Hanthawaddy districts and stretches in an
elongated pear-shaped area south from the town of Pegu to beyond Thongwa, in the
Hanthawaddy district, in the south, a distance of 45 miles as the crow flies, increasing
from a breadth of four miles near Pegu to a maximum of 12 miles in the south.

Pegu is situated at the extreme northern end of the above region. In addition to the effects
of the earthquake already described, many cracks appeared in the ground in and about the
town. The most striking of these was one along which the alluvium had been thrust
northwestwards against the eastern foot of the ridge on which the Civil Station stands.
Over most of the considerable length of this particular crack, the alluvium was piled up to
the height of approximately one foot. The crack was remarkably straight and crossed
several low spurs at N5°E without much deviation. Near the Thanatpin road it opened out
to a width of 2 feet and was several feet deep. The iron piping of the tube well was
involved in this movement and bent over at a depth of 54 feet. Solid concrete foundations
for a pump house alongside the tube well were tilted diagonally and turned over to the
NW. Beyond the tube well the crack deepened, turned to N15°E and split into several
subsidiary branches. To the southeast the ground was flooded owing to the blocking of
various small streams, presumably by the raising of the local ground level and perhaps
also partly on account of the eruption of water from fissures. Other cracks appeared on
the western side of the ridge. Three, which ran approximately north-south, crossed the
Thanatpin road. The largest was traceable for 350 yards, in a N4°W with a downthrow of
six inches to the east and a maximum breadth of two feet. Cracking of this kind was
evident in other parts of the town and in some places the ground between two parallel
cracks had subsided in amounts varying between a few inches and one foot. Part of the
damage caused in Pegu was undoubtedly due to this cause, particularly in the vicinity of
the river, where the downward sliding motion of cracked blocks of alluvium wrecked
both masonry and wooden structure indiscriminately.

At Onhne there are no masonry buildings and little damage was caused yet we believe
that the shock was stronger than at Pegu. The Station Master described the ‘earth as
rolling up and down and from side to side as if I were in a small boat on a rough sea’. The
cement flooring of a hut was badly cracked and raised in places and a heavy safe thrown
off its stand and flung s distance of eight feet towards E10°N. A heavy water tank was
flung from a tall iron framework on the railway line and a truck loaded with 150 bags of
rice was overturned towards the east. Many large earth fissures and sand vents appeared
around Onhne. The line between Onhne and Thongwa was badly damaged; bridges were
cracked and sheared, piers moved out of the perpendicular, abutments were sunk, and
lines displaced and twisted. At Tawa village, on the edge of the most severely affected
area, two buildings were completely destroyed and seven persons reported killed. The
upper portions of mill chimneys and pagodas were dismantled while the road to the
railway station two miles to the west was badly cracked and in places sank. At Kayan the
Court House was leveled to the ground and only a few wooden posts left standing, while

4
part of the hospital completely collapsed. Except the western, other walls of the bazaar
building fell; the mosque was very badly damaged and various other masonry buildings
were shattered. The death toll was variously reported as 12 and 16. Cracks opened in
the ground and reached a width of two feet seven inches in one place with a depth of six
feet. Water extruded from the crack caused flooding in the vicinity. Water and sand
spouted from various vents, for some time after the earthquake in sufficient quantities to
cover roads and fill small reservoirs. The floor of the Thongwa railway station building
was cracked and platform fissured. At 93 mile fissures one foot across opened up in the
embankment. The wing walls of the railway bridge in the vicinity were cracked from top
to bottom. Abutments sank and moved out of position and in places the line itself had
been dropped. In Thongwa town eight out of a total of eleven masonry buildings were
rent and some of them collapsed into heaps of debris. The posts of certain wooden
buildings were smashed and pushed out of position while several timber houses sank on
their foundations. In the surrounding area numerous sand vents opened up and several
block fissures were formed, people were thrown to the ground and heavy almirahs and
most smaller objects were overturned.

Isoseismal VIII

The area enclosed within the curve approximates 700 square miles and encloses part of
townships of Kyauktan, Thongwa, Kayan and Kawa in the Hanthawaddy district and
small portions of the Thanatpin and Pegu townships of the Pegu district in the north. At
Kyauktan a few houses partially collapsed while many were damaged. The ‘hti’ of the
Minkyaung Pagoda bent towards the NE and both it and other pagodas were cracked.
Most moveable objects in houses were overturned and appear to have fallen either to the
north or south. The hospital compound was traversed by many earth cracks. Heavy
almirahs in the hospital and the police station were flung to the ground. In Pandaw,
Kyaubin and Ywathit villages to the east of Kyauktan, ground is reported to have slipped
into the river, walls of houses to have collapsed, sand vents and earth fissures to have
been formed and loose objects to have been thrown over. In Kawa the shock commenced
with a tremor lasting about two seconds and was followed almost immediately by a
severe shock which seemed to last a minute. A brick house fell and killed one woman.
The ‘hti’ of the main pagoda was bent and the head of one large image fell off. A number
of almirahs tumbled over in the hospital and the police station was slightly cracked.
Large fissures appeared in the silt on the north bank of the river and sixteen cracks
crossed the road between Kawa and Tongyi. While Tawa village undoubtedly
experienced a higher intensity, at Tawa railway station, two miles to the west, crockery
fell and lamps thrown over but almirahs did not move. Cracks appeared in the Chetty,s
temple and other brick and plaster houses were cracked. The top of the pagoda near the
station fell due east. Part of the Pegu-Thongwa railway line crosses the area enclosed
within this isoseist. At Kamase and Yitkan there was no damage, but bottles, glasses and
small almirahs were overturned. The main railway line from Rangoon to Mandalay enters
isoseismal area VIII at Tongyi, 30 miles NE of Rangoon. Here the main station building
was pushed 5° from the vertical towards NW. Payagyi, a village on the main line 10
miles north of Pegu, appears to mark the approximate limit of the VIIIth isoseist in this
direction. Here a large pagoda and two houses collapsed. The station building was

5
slightly inclined from the vertical and a stationary train was moved a few feet. Almirahs
were tumbled over and the railway embankment slightly cracked.

Isoseismal VI- VII

It includes the southern portion of the Toungoo district with a long tongue running north
as far as the hill station of Thandaung. Following the general trend of the western edge of
the Pegu Yomas it swells out in the south to include, after crossing the Rangoon river, the
whole of the southern part of Hanthawaddy, a portion of Maubin and the greater part of
the Pyapon districts. On the east it enters the very sparsely inhabited and densely wooded
hills of the Papum district in the Salween valley. In the south it includes the greater part
of Thaton district and a small portion of northern Amherst.

At first sight and judging alone from the damage caused in the flatter portions of the
Rangoon town it might be imagined that an intensity of VIII had been reached here.
Remembering however that in the suburbs and particularly on the ridge practically no
damage of any consequence was caused- an area in which the intensity of the shock
cannot be placed higher than degrees VI to VII- we are led to conclude that the intensity
in the city itself was not more than VII, but that its effects were naturally augmented both
by the alluvium and ‘made- ground’ on which this portion is built, and by the poor
construction of the buildings which did collapse. Several buildings collapsed bodily,
burying the inmates in their ruins, the worst case being in China Street where a five
storied pucca building crumbled inwards. The roof and walling of a three storied house at
the corner of Mogul and Fraser Streets collapsed, and a similar fate befell another at the
corner of Dalhousie and Sparks Streets. A portion of the roof and cross walls of the
Young Women’s Christian Association building fell. Several buildings were so
extensively fissured that they were rendered unfit for habitation. Amongst the
Government buildings the Secretariat fared the worst. No. 230, Dalhousie Street, which
houses the Burma Party of the Geological Survey of India, suffered severely. The
walls were cracked in many places; part of the ornamental parapet fell; bricks fell from
the inside walls; heavy library almirahs were thrown over and smashed, while bottles in
the laboratory and museum suffered severely. The General Post office was cracked at
many places; various buildings belonging to the Corporation of Rangoon received minor
injuries. The General Office of the Burma Railway in Montgomery Street sustained
cracked arches and a wall was pushed slightly out of plumb. None of the jetties of the
Port Trust were affected except two pontoon bridges which were wrenched from their
sockets at the shore end and dropped into the river. Several sheds were badly damaged by
the cracking of walls. Many brick chimneys of mills in the Pazundaung and adjoining
areas crashed to the ground. The jeweled ‘hti’ of the Shwedagon Pagoda was dislodged
and left dangling from its summit. The ‘hti’ of the Sule Pagoda, where the damage caused
by the 1928 quakes had barely been mended, was again bent over.

[At the northern end of the area] Railway stations along the main line north of Payagyi,
such as Paungdawthi, Daiku and Pyuntaza experienced the higher intensity of VII. In
Paungdawthi bricks fell from the walls of the police station and a pagoda collapsed. The
brick work of a well sank and the well became dry. Slight cracks appeared in a road and

6
almirahs fell towards east. In Daiku the Court House partially collapsed. In Pyuntaza,
further north still, the intensity seems to have been diminishing as pagodas did not fall
and only a single masonry building was cracked. In Pyu [the scene of a disastrous quake
on 4th December 1930] the only damage caused seems to have been to crockery. The hill
station of Thandaung appears to be near the limit of this isoseist in the northern direction.
[In the eastern part of the area] at Thanatpin, two distinct tremors were felt, houses
were cracked and the top five feet of a 45 feet chimney shaken off. At Waw, the mosque
was cracked and almirahs were overturned. At Okpo the quake was described as three
large shocks and a pagoda on the Thaton side of the Sittang was thrown down. East of
Sittang river at Pa-an township three separate shocks are reported strong enough to crack
some buildings slightly and to cause lamps to swing in a north-south direction. From
Zingyaik and Mokpalin total duration of shock reported to be 1 to 1.5 minutes in NE-SW
direction. Small objects fell and three pucca buildings were cracked. In Moulmein two
distinct shocks were noticed which caused trival damage to brick buildings and general
alarm to persons walking or at rest. In the Chaungzon township, which lies to the
southeast of Moulmein, the ‘this’ of pagodas at Myitmodaung and Payagyigone were
bent towards the east, while small cracks appeared in their bases. Mudon reported the
shock as slight, while in Amherst two distinct phases are recorded causing hanging lamps
to swing, floor and beams of wooden houses to creak and some clocks to stop.

[The southern portion] West of the Rangoon river this isoseist includes the townships of
Twante and Kungyangon North and South. The shock caused general panic in them all
and was very distinctly felt as a noticeable to and fro movement. Lamps and photographs
hanging on wall were thrown down while in Kungyangon South one side of a masonry
pongyi kyaung collapsed. This isoseist includes the southeastern portion of the Ma-u-bin
district. All reports from the town agree that the shock had two distinct phases. It caused
hanging objects to swing in N-S dirction and slightly cracked the veranda of the District
Council Office and walls of DC’s office. The earthquake was felt throughout the whole
of the Pyapon district. The Bogale Township reported freedom from damage. At Pyapon
plaster fell from the hospital walls; while in Kyaiklat extensive cracks appeared in the
arches and masonry floor of the SDO’s house. In the Dispensary many cracks were made
over arches and in walls while masonry floors and one ceiling gave way. No damage
occurred in Dedaye though people outdoors had great difficulty in standing and various
loose objects overturned.

Acceleration of the Wave Particle

Using West’s formula for determining the acceleration of the wave particle and the
measurements of certain more or less suitable objects which were overthrown in Pegu,
Kayan, Ohnne, Tawa and Thanatpin, Mr Leicester has deduced the following results:

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Place and Object f Remarks
ft/sec2 mm/ sec2
Pegu, gate pillars 7.0 2130 (IX-X) The Roman figures refer to the
Kayan, gate pillars 6.95 2120 (IX-X) corresponding degree of
Onhne, loded 10.45 3180 (X) intensity on the Rossi-Forel
railway wagons* Scale
Tawa, factory 5.92 1800 (VIII-IX)
chimney
Thanatpin, factory 4.03 1230 (VIII) * Rather doubtful on account of
chimney the springs.

Special Surface effects of the Earthquake [page 251]

Changes of level: It was reported that the Tawa lock of the Pegu- Sittang canal together
with the adjoining country had been raised by 0.77 feet. This was first noticed on the day
following the earthquake by comparison of the canal gauge readings at Tawa lock,
Kyaukpadaung and Pagannyaungbin. A circuit of levels was run from Tawa to Thanatpin
and Thanatpin to Pegu and these showed that the Tawa lock and the surrounding area had
been raised by 0.77 of a foot. No damage was caused to the lock itself and the guage,
which is fixed to the masonry, did not change its relative position. The whole movement
thus appears to have been rather a wide spread bodily uplift. Re-leveling operation
carried out within the limits of the Port of Rangoon revealed a settlement of the ground
amounting to an average of about 0.1 foot on the line of levels between Graham Smith’s
Bench Mark and Monkey point, though all the bench marks were equally affected.

Earth-fissures: In addition to those already described (page 5, 1st para) several block
fissures were observed near Thongwa. Near the headmen’s house four parallel ones
within a distance of 20 feet, extended north and south for about 200 feet. Two of them
were over three feet wide with subsidence of a foot in the center or at the side. Twelve
feet away from the fissures were numerous sand vents which erupted water and sand for
three days. Near the Okkanwa bridge, on the left bank of the Takaw chaung, numerous
parallel, long and wide fissures were visible. One end of the bridge had subsided by about
a foot. In Okkan village, fissures from four to five feet in width, trending ENE-WSW
were formed. The extrusion of sand and water from them caused several wooden houses
in the vicinity to subside, and in one case to leave some of the posts dangling in the air.
One large fissure traceable for a quarter of a mile near the bank of the Okkan chaung was
ten feet wide in places and its bottom could not be reached by a 20 feet long bamboo.
Near its northern termination one side was three feet higher than the other. The roads in
Thongwa town, metalled with laterite, were traversed by longitudinal, transverse and
diagonal cracks. South of Thongwa near Nyaunglebin village, several block fissures up to
six to eight feet wide and about 150 yards in length ran parallel to the bank of the
Hmawun chaung. Sometimes they bifurcated and in one case a scarp two feet high had
been formed. Both the fissures and the smaller cracks followed this tidal stream. Many
sand vents had opened up in the vicinity.

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Sand vents and sand sloughs: Sand vents were a common occurrence within the
epicentral tract and especially so in the vicinity of Thongwa. In some cases regular
craterlets with a circular hole through which water and sand issued were seen; in others
the central crater was missing and small circular patches of sand had formed. Sand vents
also occurred within the deltaic portion of the affected area. ENE of Thayetkwin a large
sand blow measuring 48 by 42 feet seen. On the Thabyegan- Thongwa road sand vents
extended from 18th mile at least as far as Thongwa. Between the village of Tinegwin and
the Pegu river, there were many NW-SE trending large and small cracks developed from
which water squirted for two hours after the eruption, forming elongated heaps of sand 15
to 36 inches high. Near the western bank of Pegu river, 1 mile south of Thayetpingaung,
50 to 60 such cracks observed with pile of sand extruded from these. Longer cracks were
about 70 yards long, zigzagged or wavy in detail though maintaining the overall NW-SE
trend, with tons of sand spread about the surrounding country. Mud and water spouted to
a height of 18-20 feet, like a fountain at the time of the earthquake and next day morning
the spout was 1.5 feet high and oozing continued for almost 17 hours after the
earthquake. On the eastern bank of Pegu river an even greater area was affected and
larger volume of sand ejected. Near Thabyegon village a 60feet square dry tank with a 10
feet deep well at its center spouted water to fill the tank South of Thongwa, the rice
fields around Nyaunglebin, Eikthaya and Sawechaung all bore evidence of similar events.

Effects on Water Supplies: Wells and tanks throughout the epicentral tract were
affected almost universally. In most cases the water levels appear to have risen soon after
the shock and then to have fallen, to lower levels than usual, later. In some instances
large quantities of silt were deposited in both tanks and wells. Of the five big tanks in
Thongwa, at the time of the earthquake, four were dry and the other contained a little
water. After the shock the latter overflowed its banks while the others filled up. Water in
a well of the Kangyi Kgyaung near Thabyegon was found to have risen six feet after the
shock, but it fell again the next morning.

Effects on Ships: A.S. Oxfordshire which was lying in Rangoon Harbour, felt a big bump
at the time of the earthquake as if the vessel’s moorings had given away. The whole ship
seemed to be lifted bodily 3 or 4 feet, once or twice, with jerky fore and aft movements.
The Commander of the S.S. Queda, whose ship was lying in ballast at No. 3 Strand fixed
moorings, stated that the vessel vibrated slightly at first and that the vibrations increased
in intensity for about 45 seconds. The S.S. Ekma was lying at Latter Street Wharf. Her
first movement was a violent roll to the port (northwards); at the same time the vessel
was thrown heavily against the wharf. She then surged along the jetty westwards with
such force that eight 1.5 inch bolts holding down a mooring lead were sheared in half.
The recoil was less violent. It is to be noted that in spite of these occurrences the tidal
gauge record for the day showed nothing abnormal according to authorities in
Dehra Dun. The pilot Vessel, which was at her station at the mouth of the Rangoon
river, reported that severe vibrations were experienced although the ship was in deep
water. The outward bound City of Carlisle heading roughly SSW with about 5 feet of
water under the ship, felt the vessel ‘buck’ as long and loaded ships often do when
approaching or leaving shoal water. This was followed by a hard bump as if the vessel
had struck something; she trembled and then proceeded normally. Oil- tanker S.S. Beme,

9
drawing about 24 feet, felt severe vibrations although in deep water. Kyokai Maru, in
light draft, passing over Choki Shoal with six feet or more of water under the ship felt as
if the vessel was receiving several hard knocks underneath.

Aftershocks [page 257]

Confining attention to the Pegu and Toungoo districts, it is apparent that places in the
epicentral tract such as Pegu, Onhne and Kawa had their fair share of aftershocks
following the great earthquake of May 5th, the most active center of seismic disturbances
since then has lain somewhere in the vicinity of Pado (18° 02′ N: 96° 36′ E). This place
lies 48 miles north of Pegu and some four miles east of the steep flank of the Pegu Yoma
as it arises from the plain. Pado probably fell within isoseist line No VI of the Pegu
earthquake, but the latter was sufficient to develop those strains in the line of weakness
that lies to the west of Pado and caused small earthquakes since. The aftershocks reported
from Penwegon, Kyauktaga and Nyaunglebin probably had a similar origin. The shock
which took place about 5-30 p.m. on September 16th and cracked the brick walls of the
police station in Pado, was experienced at least as far south as Pegu, to the east in
Myitkyo on the Sittang river and to the southeast in Yitkangale of Thanatpin township,
14 miles in that direction from Pegu itself. On 3rd and 4th December the activity was
transferred some 30 miles further north again, along the same line of weakness to the Pyu
region and caused disaster there, but earth movements have been renewed in the Pado
neighbourhood since then.

General Conditions and their bearing on the cause of the Earthquake

With the exception of a low ridge of lateritised Upper Tertiary rocks at Pegu, the whole
of the epicentral tract forms part of a wide alluvial plain bounded on the east and south by
the estuary of the Sittang river and the Gulf of Martaban and on the west by the Rangoon
and Pegu rivers. It consists of low deltaic lands built up by tidal accretions from the Gulf
of Martaban and the Sittang estuary. South of the Pegu-Sittang Canal the total area of this
plain is roughly 1800 sq miles, while 340 sq miles of cultivable lands in it are subject to
flooding (surveyed by A.J. Clark completed in 1926). This figure does not include the
new lands on the east and south now in the process of formation and at present covered
with tidal forest. The epicentral tract covers 364 sq miles in a long pear-shaped enclosure
through the middle of this plain. Within this plain there are six separate areas which
owing to their relatively low levels are liable to severe and periodical flooding. Plate 11
shows the disposition of the flooded areas with reference to the two innermost isoseismal
lines, from which it will be seen that with the exception of the greater part of the Yitangyi
and the adjoining Kokko area in the northeast, they are all practically enclosed within
these isoseismals. The mouth of Sittang river has been moving eastwards. The river has
eroded large tracts of paddy land in Thaton district on its eastern bank which have helped
to build up accretions to the Pegu plain extending over 20 miles east of Onhne, as can be
seen from the diagrams on Plate 12 incorporating the shore lines of 1893 and 1926.

The raised beaches of the Arakan coast high above present tide limits, point to an
elevation of the land in recent times. The older alluvial clay of the Irrawaddy delta is

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believed to be of estuarine or marine origin gradually elevated to its present position from
sea level. Recent investigations in connection with the water supply of Rangoon have led
to the belief that the peculiar physiographical character of streams flowing from the
termination of the Pegu Yomas are probably due to uplift of the land. The minor
earthquakes which disturbed the city in September and December 1927 and again in
January 1929, could be due to forces of uplift causing movement along lines of weakness
below the deltaic alluvium. In the elevation of the Tawa lock and the surrounding country
during the Pegu earthquake there is positive proof of a slight elevation change.

The Pegu earthquake, quite apart from its usual and normal series of small aftershocks,
cannot be dissociated from others which belong to the series of which it is a member. On
8th August 1929, a very severe but local shock occurred which seems to have had its
epicenter a few miles west of Swa in the Toungoo district. Here a private meter- gauge
railway was severly damaged. In places the track was twisted and bent, fishplates and
bolts were snapped, bridges and culverts collapsed, the sides of cuttings fell in, loaded
trucks turned over and coolie lines were shaken to pieces. This earthquake was reported
from Yamethin, Pyinmana, Yenangyaung and Tharrawaddy. For some time after the
Pegu earthquake the main center of seismic activity moved into the neighbourhood of
Pado [18°02′ N and 96°36′ E], 48 miles north of Pegu and close to the steep eastern flank
of the Pegu Yoma. Here 13 separate earthquakes, mainly of slight intensity, were
recorded in the six months from July to December 1930. A smarter shock on September
16th cracked the walls of the police station in Pado and was felt over an area extending at
least 60 miles to the southeast.

A series of violent shocks on December 3rd and 4th, 1930, the severest of which occurred
about 1-22 AM on 4th, wrecked the masonry buildings in the town of Pyu and caused
about 30 deaths. An examination of the ground has led to the conclusion that the
epicenter of the Pyu quake lies a few miles to the west of that place, where the edge of
the Pegu Yomas rises in a wall- like escarpment to a maximum height of over 1700 feet
above sea level from the alluvial plains of the Sittang. A local railway line crossing this
tract was badly damaged and exhibited twisting of rails and displacement of
embankments similar to those caused by the Swa shock in its area. Loases trucks were
overturned in Pyu station and along the line to the west, cracks in the ground and sand
vents, the wrecking of a timber house and the destruction of flimsy huts, which usually
escape damage, again betokened a high degree of intensity.

A straight line passing through the epicenters of the Swa and Pyu earthquakes and
continued to the south crosses the Pado area and passes approximately through the center
of the most disturbed region of the Pegu quake. It is parallel more or less to the outer
eastern boundary of the Tertiary rocks and to the main trend line of the Pegu Yomas, a
direction of about 10° east of south. It seems to follow closely the foot of the well-
marked ridge containing the peaks Pondaung (1505 ft), Khengdan (1754 ft),
Myayabengkyo (1408 ft) and others on the west of the Sittang plain. This linear
arrangement of the epicenters of so many earthquakes cannot be accidental and it is
necessary to seek for its cause.

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On the other side of the Sittang valley, the steep edge of the Karen hills and the Shan
plateau rises and it has long been held that the junction between the Tertiary and the
crystalline rocks is marked by a great boundary fault. T.D. La Touche wrote [Geology of
the Northern Shan States, Mem Geol Surv Ind XXXIX, 1913; p. 352]- It is observed that
these rocks were brought to the surface in upper Tertiary times, since on the western side
they are in continuous contact with sandstones of that age. In fact it is evident that the
whole length of the western edge of the Shan plateau is a fault scarp, due to a great fault.
The faulted junction of the Tertiaries with the crystallines further north still in the
Shwebo district has been mapped recently by V.P. Sondhi. In the area with which we are
dealing, however, we do not know where this junction lies below the alluvium, but it is
not without significance that crystalline rocks crop out through it some two miles east of
Sittang near Toungoo, and there is every probability that some somewhere below the
deep alluvium of the Pegu-Sittang plain the faulted junction of the two diverse geological
systems continues. Whether movements of the outer boundary fault or faults are causing
the earthquakes or whether they are the result of the growth of associated smaller faults
within the Tertiary rocks themselves, further to the west, has still to be provided. The
great escarpment of the Shan plateau including the Karen hills is one of the major
structural features of the Burmo-Malayan region. It forms a complete break where the
Tertiary rocks of the Irrawaddy and Sittang valleys finish abruptly and give place to an
entirely different series of strata which stretches across the Shan States and far into the
Chinese Provinces.

It is concluded therefore that the Pegu earthquake and its associates are of geotectonic
origin; that sufficient external evidence is available to suspect their origin in the growth
of a fault or faults which lie in an instable region at the foot of the Shan plateau and either
under the alluvium of the Sittang valley or close to it, in the Tertiary strata which form its
border on the west in Toungoo and northern Pegu; that this instable zone continues south
of Pegu beneath the alluvium of the Pegu-Sittang plain; that the linear arrangement of the
epicenters of the Pegu, Pado, Pyu and Swa earthquakes supplies additional internal
evidence which turns suspicion into practical certainty, and, finally that although the
present series of movements commenced in what may be termed the central portion of
this zone of weakness, their later and more violent extension further south, which resilted
the Pegu earthquake, may have been in some way accelerated by increasing strains
demanding isostatic readjustment, consequent on the rapid growth of the delta into the
Gulf of Martaban.

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