Karachi effects of the Makran earthquake and tsunami of November 1945: Mercury spilled, tide gauge impaired, seawalls overrun, boats displaced, mosque flooded
Scholarly Edition
Overview
abstract
History forewarns of earthquakes and tsunamis on northwest Indian Ocean shores. The forewarnings include eyewitness testimony from mainly rural parts of present-day Oman, Iran, Pakistan, and India. Such recollections were gathered in “Remembering the 1945 Makran tsunami” (UNESCO-IOC, 2015). Here, in an urban sequel, the 1945 tsunami and its parent earthquake register in Karachi, home then as now of the region’s principal port. Shaking damages a giant assembly of lighthouse lenses. Tsunami waves that follow disable a long-running tide gauge, flood port facilities and fishing villages, and move boats.Intended for a broad audience, the folio reconstructs this Karachi history from archives and interviews. The findings include water-level estimates that may aid in calibrating tsunami-hazard maps.
