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A catalogue of earthquakes between 810BC and 2012 for the Bay of Bengal

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Abstract

Assumptions about regional earthquake hazard in the Bay of Bengal and the frequency of such events were brought into question by the 26 December 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. An initial element of earthquake risk management is to quantify the hazard, and catalogues of past events are a major contribution to that effort. We have developed a new comprehensive catalogue of earthquakes with a felt intensity occurring before 31 December 1899 and of magnitude of four and above for instrumentally recorded events from 1 January 1900 using all available sources. Between 810BC and 2012, we find that 562 earthquakes were experienced in the Bay of Bengal and Bangladesh. Unsurprisingly, data on events become increasingly scarce the further back in time the catalogue extends and significant conflicts and discrepancies are identified for events listed in different sources. Nonetheless, our new data catalogue provides a useful foundation upon which further archival research may build in order to develop a richer understanding of regional earthquake hazard.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the UNSW Australia for financial support to undertake this research. Thanks to Emma Calgaro at the University of Sydney for constructive comments on the report version of this manuscript and to two anonymous referees who provided very constructive comments on an earlier draft of this manuscript. Thanks to the Disaster Action and Development Organisation (DADO), Bangladesh, for helping with data collection in Bangladesh.

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  1. Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, University of Chittagong, Chittagong, 4331, Bangladesh

    Edris Alam

  2. The Asia-Pacific Natural Hazards and Disaster Risk Research Group, School of Geosciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia

    Edris Alam & Dale Dominey-Howes

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  1. Edris Alam
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Correspondence to Edris Alam.

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Alam, E., Dominey-Howes, D. A catalogue of earthquakes between 810BC and 2012 for the Bay of Bengal. Nat Hazards 81, 2031–2102 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-016-2174-7

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