1934年尼泊尔－比哈尔邦地震

地震

这个地震的震中位于尼泊尔东部，珠穆朗玛峰以南约9.5千米。 生命和财产损失最大的地区从比哈尔东部的普尔尼亚延伸到西部的查姆帕兰（距离近320千米），从加德满都至南方的蒙格埃尔（距离近465千米），据报由拉萨到孟买，从阿萨姆邦到旁遮普邦也受到地震的影响。在距离震中约650千米（404英里）的加尔各答，许多建筑物被毁坏，圣保罗座堂 (加尔各答)的塔楼倒塌。

地面效应

这次地震的一个值得注意的现像是在地震区域的周围出现地面塌陷，出现了长达300千米土壤液化地带（称为坍落带），其中许多建筑物都在漂浮。

在穆扎夫法尔普尔，土壤流失在城里的几个地方爆发。井被沙子堵塞，而池塘的水位由于沙粒沉积在水底而变浅。建筑物由于地面下沉和开裂而遭受损失。

损害

加德满都谷三个主要城镇:加德满都，巴克塔普尔和帕坦受到严重影响，几乎所有的建筑物都崩溃了。 地面上出现大裂缝，加德满都有几条道路受损; 然而，尼泊尔守护神的帕舒帕蒂纳特庙却逃脱了任何伤害。

在西塔马尔希，没一间房子保持正常，在巴特那，只有一座城堡得以幸免，城市的其余部分变为瓦砾。在马杜巴尼所有的筑都倒塌了。在印度贾坎德邦的贾里亚地震导致火灾进一步蔓延，在尼泊尔南方的比尔甘杰连同接驳至加德满都的电话线也被摧毁。地震中尼泊尔的死亡人数为10,700至12,000人，比哈尔邦有7,253人死亡。

后果

后来甘地访问比哈尔邦。他写道，比哈尔地震是对印度未能根除不可接触者的报复。 在比哈尔，斯里巴巴和其他伟大的领袖如Anugrah Narayan Sinha也投入救援工作。

The 1934 Nepal–India earthquake or 1934 Bihar–Nepal earthquake was one of the worst earthquakes in India's history. The towns of Munger and Muzaffarpur were completely destroyed. This 8.0 magnitude earthquake occurred on 15 January 1934 at around 2:13 pm IST (08:43 UTC) and caused widespread damage in northern Bihar and in Nepal.

Earthquake

The epicentre for this event was located in eastern Nepal about 9.5 km (5.9 mi) south of Mount Everest. The areas where the most damage to life and property occurred extended from Purnea in the east to Champaran in the west (a distance of nearly 320 km or 200 mi), and from Kathmandu in the north to Munger in the south (a distance of nearly 465 km or 289 mi). The impact was reported to be felt in Lhasa to Bombay, and from Assam to Punjab. The earthquake was so severe that in Kolkata, around 650 km (404 mi) from epicenter, many buildings were damaged and the tower of St. Paul's Cathedral 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 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 Muzaffarpur, 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 Muzaffarpur 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 in Nepal—Kathmandu, Bhaktapur 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 of Pashupatinath, the guardian deity of Nepal, escaped any damage. The 1618-meter-long Kosi Rail Bridge on the Metre Gauge Railway line connecting Darbhanga Raj with Forbesganj was washed away and the River Kosi changed its path eastward.

In Sitamarhi, not a single house was left standing. In Bhagalpur district many buildings collapsed. In Patna, 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 the Phulhar village of district, the earlier older temple of the Girija Sthan was damaged and collapsed due to the earthquake. In Jharia the earthquake led to further spread of underground fire. The town of Birgunj was destroyed, along with its telephone line to Kathmandu.

Aftermath

Mahatma Gandhi visited the Bihar state. He wrote that the Bihar earthquake was providential retribution for India's failure to eradicate untouchability. Rabindranath Tagore 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) and the other leaders such as Anugrah Babu (Anugrah Narayan Sinha), 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.