Looking for Missing Links in Kashmir: An Update on ... - CiteSeerX

SRL Early Edition

Looking for Missing Links in Kashmir: An Update on Nineteenth-Century Seismicity by Bashir Ahmad, Shabir Ahmad, Akhtar Alam, Shuhong Wang, and M. Sultan Bhat

INTRODUCTION Nineteenth century Kashmir witnessed military interventions as well as foreign invasions of different ethnic and religious entities. Coups d’état, coupled with sporadic appearances of epidemics and other natural disasters, were also prevalent. Despite all these upheavals, the influx of various European travelers and their attention to natural phenomena such as earthquakes immensely contributed to knowledge of the earthquake history of this remote pastoral valley. According to the latest issue of the Kashmir seismic catalog, the area has a centuriesold history of moderate magnitude events (Ahmad et al., 2009). However, this picture might be incomplete, as suggested by the recent discovery of previously unknown earthquakes that occurred in the nineteenth century. The objective of the present research is to fill the information gaps regarding the occurrences of known earthquakes in the Kashmir Valley and neighboring regions and to identify previously unknown seismic events. As part of this work, six previously unreported earthquakes have been identified, and information on five previously reported earthquakes has been updated. This was achieved by studying historical documents coeval to the events.

SEISMICITY IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY KASHMIR Nineteenth-century Kashmir was seriously affected by several earthquakes, which occurred in 1803, 1819, 1828, 1863, and 1885 (Ahmad et al., 2009). Several studies on particular events (e.g., 1828 and 1885) have been recently published by Bilham et al. (2010) and Ahmad et al. (2014), respectively. These seismic events are known as having been among the largest in this region in the nineteenth century, as they caused major damage to the natural and built environments. Moreover, in the published historical seismic catalogs of Kashmir (e.g., Iyengar et al., 1999; Ahmad et al., 2009), specific seismic information gaps (blank time windows with regard to the occurrences of seismic events) have been evident and only recently filled by Ahmad and Shafi (2014) through the rediscovery of a fair number of earthquakes, especially during medieval times. doi: 10.1785/0220140105

There are still some information gaps in the earthquake catalogs of Kashmir currently in use. For unknown reasons, these catalogs omit numerous seismic events (e.g., 1824, 1842, 1857, 1873, 1877/1878, and 1892), and this provides some scope for further research. A study was undertaken to examine the archival records of the Kashmir Valley to look for accounts of historical earthquakes in the area that were previously overlooked. This was achieved by studying historical documents, preferably those coeval to the events. The results presented in this paper are part of a revision of the earthquake catalog of the Kashmir Valley. The earthquakes that we were researching occurred during the nineteenth century—a period characterized by Kashmir’s transition from one colony to another. In the mid-eighteenth century (1753) in Kashmir, Afghans conquered and vandalized the lavish Mughals, Sikhs later expelled the Afghans in 1819, and, finally, Dogras overthrew the Sikh regime in 1846—a general plunder and loot ensued upon each invasion. In the intervals of peace, natural calamities drastically reduced the population during the nineteenth century. Many socioeconomic crises seem to have emerged from pressure exerted on the local people by environmental stresses. These stresses modified the way that earthquakes were reported and recorded in the nineteenth century, mainly because the earthquakes took place in quick succession with other natural disasters that had effects that were more strongly experienced. A well-defined path to completing an earthquake catalog is clear. The starting point for historical earthquake research is the existence of previous compilations of earthquake lists provided by historians or seismologists. These may be flawed and incomplete, but they provide an initial list of dates and places against which the original sources can be checked. This yields primary source material from which evaluations of the earthquakes can be made, but these source data often contain comparisons and recollections of other earthquakes, which supply additional dates for checking. A chain of references gradually builds up from the initial working list, and more and more earthquakes can be rediscovered in such a way, leading to a more and more complete catalog. Procedures for historical investigation are discussed in numerous sources, of which one might mention Magri et al. (1987), Eisinger et al. (1992), Stucchi and Camassi (1997), and Guidoboni and Ebel (2009), as well as many more papers related to more specific case studies. This paper is divided into two sections. First, we describe the type of historical sources available for each seismic event, the information describing the effects and geographical reach of the seismic events. The second section presents a summary

Seismological Research Letters

Volume 86, Number 4 July/August 2015

1

SRL Early Edition

of the damage to the built environment and the effects on human life due to the earthquakes. A brief conclusion appears at the end of the paper highlighting the main information obtained in the study.

HISTORICAL SEISMICITY: SOURCES, EFFECTS, AND GEOGRAPHICAL REACH Copious historical sources are at our disposal for the modern period, especially from 1800 to 1900, documented in the Persian and English languages. Although some of the texts in the Persian language (e.g., Wajeez-ul-Tawarikh by Khanyari, 1857) contain exhaustive references on natural hazards, three books (Tarikh-i-Hassan by Khoihami, 1885; Waqati-Kashmir by Dedamari, 1886; Tarikh-i-Kabir Kashmir by Miskeen, 1899–1900) have separate sections or subsections describing natural disasters in Kashmir. Apart from local historiography, the nineteenth century saw many European travelers coming to Kashmir and recording their observations and impressions of events. Thus, we also have descriptions by Wakefield (1879) and Bates (1873) of the Kashmir Valley and the devastating earthquakes of 1824 and 1828. Wingate (1888) conducted the first land settlement operation of Kashmir and gave some details of the earthquakes of 1824 and 1885. Later, Lawrence (1895) complemented Wingate’s settlement operations by giving a vivid picture of the natural hazards, including the 1828, 1857, and 1885 earthquakes in the Kashmir Valley in his book, The Valley of Kashmir. The Neve brothers, Arthur and Ernest (medical missionaries in Kashmir), gave their accounts of the land and its people in various travelogs and recorded their firsthand observations of the 1824 and 1885 earthquakes (Neve 1885, 1899, 1928). Biscoe (1922), the pioneering educationist and reformer, recorded the plight of the people in his book, Kashmir Shade and Sunlight. In general, we used diverse historical sources (reproduced later in the text) in collecting information on these earthquakes to assess their authenticity. The contents of these historical sources range from land settlement operations to physiographic and cultural aspects to lengthy narratives of events, more common later on and often exhibiting characteristics of on-the-spot reporting. Information on earthquakes and natural hazards is also included.

RESULTS In high-seismicity areas where earthquakes may cause heavy damage, there are many types of documents and parts of manuscripts (folios) that may reflect the impact of an earthquake in terms of its disruption to normal life. For example, in the documents, the description of repairs to buildings may be accompanied by mentions of the achievements of rulers, the death of a king may be marked by an earthquake or unusual environmental surprises, and so on. A closer look at the modern primary historical sources (principally for the nineteenth century) reveals important information on the earthquake events. We emphasize that historical data can always be updated when new evidence surfaces. In this paper, we have been able to add six 2


Volume 86, Number 4

previously unreported seismic events, and information on five previously reported earthquakes has been updated. Furthermore, no magnitude and intensities can be assigned to these earthquakes because the information is inadequate. Descriptions of six rediscovered earthquakes and their effects were copied verbatim from the original sources. The following information has been retrieved from the coeval sources. 1824: Srinagar There were frequent foreshocks in the year 1823 prior to the mainshock. Moorcroft and Trebeck (1825), while travelling from Leh, Ladakh, entered Srinagar on 1 November 1822 and remained there until May 1823. During their stay, they observed the “occurrence of earthquakes which are frequent in Kashmir though not very violent.” Bates (1873) compiled a gazetteer of Jammu and Kashmir, which helped him considerably toward the correct identification of the places meant for proper fiscal assessment for revenue purposes. The author described an earthquake that took place in 1824. Similar mention is made by Wakefield (1879) in his book, The Happy Valley: Sketches of Kashmir and Kashmiris. Later, Wingate (1888) mentioned this earthquake in his first ever report on land settlement operations of Jammu and Kashmir, followed by Digby (1890), who in a bid to defend the autocratic Dogra rule, mentions the same earthquake in his memoir, Condemn Unheard. This is how the earthquake is mentioned by Bates (1873), “… for in 1824 terrible earthquake occurred followed by cholera the inhabitants live entirely in tents….the great earthquake which laid every house in the city low. During the three months of its continuance, the shocks at first were not less than 100 per diem, after which they gradually diminished.” 1828: Srinagar Doderhama We have been able to uncover additional information about the previously reported 1828 seismic event from Tarikh-iHassan. In fact, the 1828 earthquake caused damage to the 14-pier Doderhama Bridge, which was constructed across the Sindh River in the north of Srinagar city (Khoihami, 1885). 1842: Srinagar Paremu (1977) in his book, A History of Sikh Rule in Kashmir, quoting from Gulzar-i-Kashmir, Ram (1870), and Tarikh-iKashmir, Merjanpuri (1871), mentions an earthquake. This is how the earthquake is described by Paremu (1977), “To start with, the great flood of 1842 devastated the entire Dal lake area. It was followed first by an earthquake which caused much fright and then by the great cholera epidemic of 1843 which took a heavy toll of the population. 23000 people died of cholera in Srinagar.” 1857: Srinagar Khoihami (1885), the author of Tarikh-i-Hassan, was an elderly person and an eyewitness to the event when the 1857 earthquake struck the Valley of Kashmir. Khoihami mentions this earthquake in his book, as does Lawrence (1895) in his July/August 2015

SRL Early Edition

book, Valley of Kashmir.. Both authors provide similar description of the event as “Cholera struck to the valley strange to say through the winter when the snow was up to the man’s neck. Maharaja Gulab Singh’s death was marked by a series of earthquakes which continued for three months” (Khoihami, 1885). 1863: Kruhan This earthquake has already been reported by Ahmad et al. (2009). We, however, managed to find further information about the felt area from a travelog, Wanderings & Wonderings: India, Burma, Kashmir…, written by Aubertin (1892). While traveling from Murree (Pakistan) to Srinagar on 9 April 1863, the authors wrote “…and a small shock of earthquake into the bargain was felt by all of us in the course of the night.” 1873: Unspecified (Kashmir Valley?) Sir Thomas Wardle, who visited Srinagar in 1897 to establish the first-ever organized silk industry in Kashmir, describes an earthquake in his book, Silk in Kashmir (2004). This is how the earthquake is mentioned: “Kashmir is situated in a line of seismic weakness. Earthquakes are still frequent; a severe shock occurred in April [1897] during my stay. In 1873 an earthquake destroyed 3000 people and large number of cattle, and no year passes without recurrences of greater or less severity.” 1877/1878: Kundabal Mansbal Pir Ghulam Hassan Khoihami began writing his Tarikh-i-Hassan in the last quarter of the nineteenth century and completed it in 1885. The author passed his childhood and youth in the Sikh and Dogra times, respectively. He wrote from personal observations and recorded this seismic event as 1877. Koul (1925) is regarded as a native contemporary to Hassan Khoihami; Koul passed his childhood and youth in the time of Dogra rule and recorded this seismic event as 1878. This earthquake occurred during a global El Niño (Davis, 2001). Historical records suggest that exceptional climate anomalies took place in India, as well as in Kashmir, as a consequence of one of the strongest global El Niño episodes on record that occurred in 1877/1878. The El Niño was partly responsible for the widespread and severe famine, cholera, and disease that wiped out 200,000 people in the Kashmir Valley at this time. Still, a mention is made of the 1877 earthquake in Kashmir as reported by contemporary historians. From the reports, it seems this earthquake was a damaging one to both the natural and built environments. Khoihami (1885), Koul (1925), and later Bamzia (1962) mention this earthquake. This is how the earthquake is described by Khoihami (1885): “…and in the grip of famine Kashmir was unfortunately again demonstrated in 1877, when 16 houses together with their inmates were buried down into a chasm caused by an earthquake at Kundabal Village near Mansbal.” 1885: Nilanag Budgam Among all the nineteenth-century earthquakes, the 1885 Kashmir earthquake with its epicenter in Baramulla has been dealt with in detail by Ahmad et al. (2014). We find additional in-

formation concerning damage in the built and natural environments provided by Khoihami (1885) and Neve (1899), respectively. This is how the damage to the built environment is described by Khoihami (1885) in Tarikh-i-Hassan, “…a severe damage to Baramulla and Sopore castle was caused by the 1885 earthquake.” Later, Neve (1899) shed some light on the damage to the natural environment in a travelog, Kashmir Ladakh and Tibet. A single paragraph describes the effects as “The lake let of Nilanag was probably caused by an earthquake, which displaced a portion of the Karewa [Pleistocene deposits], which here rests against the mountains. An area of nearly a mile square subsided and blocked the small side valley, forming a lake. The tops of the submerged trees still project from the surface; and half of a mile to the north, a line of cliff shows the former level of the plateau. Nature has kindly dealt with the scar, covering it with trees and flowers, and there is a pretty village on the subsided ground, while on the lake side is one or two huts built by Europeans for summer quarters.” 1892: Rainawari Srinagar Wilson (1901), while writing a biography of Irene Petrie, a Christian missionary who lost her life for the welfare of the people of Kashmir, mentioned an earthquake that took place during her time at a women’s hospital, which presently houses the JLN Hospital, Rainawari, Srinagar. This is how the earthquake is described by Ashley Carus-Wilson: “….flood and earthquake devastated the women’s hospital in 1892.”

SEISMOLOGICAL CONTEXT OF NINETEENTHCENTURY KASHMIR EARTHQUAKES The study of historical sources reveals that Kashmir had witnessed a series of natural extreme events (floods and famines) that had a strong impact on the environment and on the society of that time to such an extent as to overshadow the effects of seismic events of minor importance. Consequently, seismic events of the nineteenth century did not receive the detailed mention that they deserve in the catalogs presently available in Kashmir. We collated details of six (1824, 1842, 1857, 1873, 1877/1878, and 1892) new earthquakes from the historical records, and the number of all known earthquakes during the nineteenth century is now eleven (Table 1). Considering the results of their revision of the earthquake history, one may wonder whether the events of 1803, 1819, 1842, and 1892 actually had their epicenters elsewhere in India with effects and damage also in the Kashmir Valley (Fig. 1), whereas the earthquakes that occurred in 1824, 1828, 1863, 1873, 1877/1878, and 1885 definitely had their epicenters within the Kashmir Valley. In fact, the effects of the 1803 Garwhal M w ∼ 7:5 earthquake (Rajendran et al., 2013) have been recovered from Kashmir historical sources, which indicate severe damage to the built and natural environments (Ahmad et al., 2009). Later, the Runn of Katch 1819 earthquake was strongly felt in Srinagar and took 1200 lives, as reported by Purdon (1861), a geographer by profession. He, however, did not make any mention of the damage to the built and natural environments. In the year 1842, the Jalalabad (Afghanistan) earthquake was also felt in Kashmir without caus-


Volume 86, Number 4

July/August 2015

3

SRL Early Edition Table 1 Details of Earthquakes That Occurred in Kashmir from 1800 to 1900 Earthquake Date (A.D.) 1803

Affected Area Srinagar

Summary of Earthquake Effects Collapse of spire of a mosque

1819

Unspecified No effect (Kashmir Valley?)

1824

Srinagar

Terrible earthquake. After shocks continued for three months. Damage to built environment

1828

Srinagar/ Doderhama

Destruction of 14-pier Doderhama bridge at Ganderbal

1842

Srinagar

No effect

1857

Srinagar

There is passing reference

1863

Kruhan

Substantial damage to natural and built environment

1873

Unspecified No effects (Kashmir Valley?)

1877

Kundabal Mansbal

Damage to built and natural environment

Description A great earthquake creating severe ground shaking and ruptures at several places; damage to life and property. When Sikhs took possession of the Kashmir Valley in 1819, the population is said to have numbered 800,000. Shortly after, an earthquake destroyed 1200 persons. …for in 1824 terrible earthquake occurred followed by cholera, the inhabitants live entirely in tents….the great earthquake which laid every house in the city low. During the three months of its continuance, the shocks at first were not less than 100 per diem, after which they gradually diminished; the inhabitants live entirely in tents. Earthquake with severe ground shaking; caused huge rocks and stones roll down from mountains. Next day 20 more shocks associated with terrific and lengthened explosions. River Jehlum sometimes appeared to standstill and then rushed forward. When Sheikh Ghulam Mohy-ud-Din assumed the reins of the government of Kashmir in 1841 heavy rainfall was followed by an earthquake. Maharaja Gulab Singh died in 1857. The day of his death was marked by an earthquake which continued for three months. Earthquake followed by aftershocks that lasted for three months, ground ruptures at Kruhan and Baangil (northwest Kashmir); intensity of earthquake felt low in eastern side of the Kashmir Valley. An earthquake killed 3000 people and large number of cattle, and no year passes without recurrences of greater or less severity. Valley of Kashmir was unfortunately again affected in 1878, when 16 houses together with their inhabitants were buried down in a chasm caused by an earthquake at Kundabal Village near Mansbal.

(Continued next page.) 4


Volume 86, Number 4

July/August 2015

Sources Khanyari (1857) Similar reports: Miskeen (1899–1900); Khoihami (1885) Purdon (1861)

Moorcroft and Trebeck (1825) Similar reports: Bates (1873), Wakefield (1879), Wingate (1888), and Lawrence (1895)

Khoihami (1885)

Ram (1870) Similar reports: Merjanpuri (1871); Paremu (1977) Khoihami (1885) Similar reports: Lawrence (1895) Aubertin (1892)

Wardle (2004)

Khoihami (1885) Similar reports: Koul (1925) andBamzia (1962)

SRL Early Edition

Table 1 (continued) Details of Earthquakes That Occurred in Kashmir from 1800 to 1900 Earthquake Date (A.D.) 1885

Affected Area Nilanag Badgam

Summary of Earthquake Effects Severe damage to natural and built environment

1892

Rainawari Srinagar

Damage to one building

Description Severe earthquake associated with ground ruptures from one inch to as wide as 20 yards and a quarter of a mile in length; aftershocks lasting more than two months; damage to Baramulla and Sopore Castle; Nilanag lake formed; death toll (5000), mostly in Baramulla. ……….flood and earthquake devastated the women’s hospital in 1892.

ing any damage there. Furthermore, the 1892 Chaman (Afghanistan) earthquake caused damage to the built environment in Kashmir. The importance of newly rediscovered seismic events is remarkable for at least two aspects: (1) for its contribution to the knowledge of the seismicity of Kashmir and the surrounding areas, which in turn has given redefinition to some of the earthquakes already contained in seismic catalogs, and (2) as a new source for the study of local site response and the seismic vulnerability of the Kashmir Valley. Moreover, the historical record of earthquakes in the Kashmir Valley (see the review of Ahmad et al., 2009), including our newly rediscovered seismic events, provides some degree of understanding that a marked tendency for the earthquakes to cluster in space around the northwest Kashmir Valley clearly depicts a source zone of historical earthquakes.

Sources Khoihami (1885) and Neve (1899) Similar reports: Ahmad et al. (2014)

Wilson (1901)

CONCLUSION A series of seismic events that occurred in the Kashmir Valley during the nineteenth century reveals important information about their occurrence and felt area. The historical earthquakes of nineteenth-century Kashmir occurred in close space-and-time sequences; for example, the seismic events of 1824, 1863, 1877/ 1878, and 1885 had a marked tendency to cluster in the northwest Kashmir Valley, whereas the earthquake of Garwhal in 1803, Allahbund in 1819, and Afghanistan in 1842 and 1892 were felt sufficiently widely as far as the Kashmir Valley. The occurrence of these historical earthquakes and their associated crustal deformation in Kashmir needs to be complemented with paleoseismic investigation to better interpret the geological structures associated with the earthquakes to improve the seismic-hazard assessment of the Kashmir Valley.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

▴ Figure 1. Locations of earthquakes that were felt in the Kashmir during the nineteenth century.

We are thankful to John Ebel of the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Boston College, Massachusetts, for his meticulous review and valuable suggestions for preparing this paper. Thanks are also due to Mahmood-ul-Ajaz, chief librarian of Sri Pratap College, and, as usual to Shams-ud-Din Shah and Mohammad Yousuf Alie of the Sri Pratap School Library, who helped in collating the details of the historical earthquakes. Thanks are due to all the people at the Women’s College library, MA Road, Srinagar, especially Farhat Jahan (chief librarian), and to Yasmeen Wani (chief librarian), Degree College Pulwama, for helping in collating the details of the historical earthquakes. Fruitful discussions with Sajad A. Darzi of the History Department, University of Kashmir, have in many ways improved our understanding of the modern history of Kashmir. Thanks are also due to Mushtaq Ahmad of Institute of Management & Public Administration (IMPA) Srinagar for providing us library facilities.


Volume 86, Number 4

July/August 2015

5

SRL Early Edition

REFERENCES Ahmad, B., and M. Shafi (2014). Some more earthquakes from medieval Kashmir, J. Seismol. 18, 681–686. Ahmad, B., M. I. Bhat, and B. S. Bali (2009). Historical record of earthquakes in the Kashmir Valley, Himalayan Geol. 301, 75–84. Ahmad, B., H. Sana, and A. Alam (2014). Macroseismic intensity assessment of 1885 Baramulla earthquake of northwestern Kashmir Himalaya, using the environmental seismic intensity scale (2007), Quaternary Int. 321, 59–64. Aubertin, J. J. (1892). Wanderings & Wonderings: India, Burma, Kashmir, Ceylon, Singapore, Java, Siam, Japan, Manila, Formosa, Korea, China, Cambodia, Australia, New Zealand, Alaska, the States, K. Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co. Ltd., London, United Kingdom. Bamzia, P. N. K. (1962). A History of Kashmir, Metropolitan Book Co., New Delhi, India, 771 pp. Bates, C. E. (1873). (Compiler) A Gazetteer of Kashmir and Adjacent Districts of Kishtwar, Badarawah, Jammu, Naoshera, Punch and the Valley of Kishenganga, Superintendent Government Printing, Calcutta, India, 560 pp. Bilham, R., B. S. Bali, M. I. Bhat, and S. Hough (2010). Historical earthquakes in Srinagar, Kashmir: Clues from the Shiva temple at Pandrethan, in Ancient Earthquakes, M. Sintubin, I. S. Stewart, T. M. Niemi, and E. Altunel (Editors), Geol. Soc. Am. Special Pap. 471, ISBN 9780813724713. Biscoe, T. (1922). Kashmir in Sunlight and Shade, Seeley, Service & Co., London, United Kingdom. Davis, M. (2001). Late Victorian Holocausts: El Niño Famines and the Making of the Third World, Verso, London, United Kingdom. Dedamari, K. M. A. (1886). Waqati-Kashmir, Folios 296 (in Persian). Digby, W. (1890). Condemned Unheard, Indian Political Agency, London, United Kingdom. Eisinger, U., R. Gutdeutsch, and C. Hammerl (1992). Historical earthquake research—An example of interdisciplinary co-operation between geophysicist and historians, in Historical Earthquakes in Central Europe, R. Gutdeutsch, G. Grunthal, and R. M. W. Musson (Editors), Abhandlungen der Geologischen Bundesanstalt, Bd. 48, Vol. 1, 35–51. Guidoboni, E., and J. E. Ebel (2009). Earthquakes and Tsunamis in the Past: A Guide to Techniques in Historical Seismology (Earthquakes and Tsunamis in the Past), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom. Iyengar, R. N., D. Sharma, and J. M. Siddiqui (1999). Earthquake history of India in medieval times, Indian J. Hist. Sci. 34, no. 3, 182–237. Khanyari, M. G. N. (1857). Wajeez-ul-Tawarikh (in Persian). Khoihami, P. G. H. (1885). Tarikh-i-Hassan, Vols. I & II, Folios 511 and 263 (in Persian). Koul, P. A. (1925). Geography of Jammu & Kashmir State, Thacker Spink, Calcutta, India. Lawrence, W. R. (1895). The Valley of Kashmir (reprint), Kesar Publishers, Srinagar, India, 478 pp. (Reprint 1884). Magri, G., C. Margottini, and D. Molin (1987). Sources for historical seismic data in Italy, in Workshop on Historical Seismicity of Central-Eastern Mediterranean Region, C. Margottini and L. Serva (Editors), ENEA, Rome, Italy, 139–150. Merjanpuri, M. K. (1871). Tarikh-i-Kashmir, Vols. 1 and 2, Folios 195 and 158 (in Persian). Miskeen, M. D. (1899–1900). Tarikh-i-Kabir Kashmir, Vols. I & II, Folios: 370 and 28 (in Persian). Moorcroft, W., and G. Trebeck (1825). Travels in the Himalayan Provinces of Hindustan and the Punjab; in Ladakh and Kashmir, in Peshawar, Kabul, Kunduz, and Bokhara, Sagar Publication, New Delhi, India. Neve, A. (1885). The late earthquake in Kashmir, The LANCET 126, September, 4555 pp.

6


Volume 86, Number 4

Neve, A. (1899). Kashmir Ladakh and Tibet, Shubhi Publications, Delhi, India. Neve, E. (1928). A Crusader in Kashmir, London Seely, Service & Co. Ltd., London, United Kingdom, 121 pp. Paremu, R. K. (1977). A History of Sikh Rule in Kashmir, Government Press, Srinagar, India, 212 pp. Purdon, W. H. (1861). On the trignometrical and physical configuration of the Valley of Kashmir, J. Roy. Geograph. Soc. 31, 25. Rajendran, C. P., K. Rajendran, J. Sanwal, and M. Sandiford (2013). Archeological and historical database on the medieval earthquakes of the central Himalaya: Ambiguities and inferences, Seismol. Res. Lett. 84, no. 6, 1–5. Ram, K. (1870). Gulzar-i-Kashmir, Koh-i-Noor Press, Lahore, Pakistan, 516 pp. Stucchi, M., and R. Camassi (1997). Building up a parametric catalogue in Europe: The historical background, in Historical and Prehistorical Earthquakes in the Caucasus, D. Giardini and S. Balassanian (Editors), Kluwer, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, 357–374. Wakefield, W. (1879). The Happy Valley: Sketches of Kashmir and the Kashmiris, S. Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington, London, United Kingdom. Wardle, T. (2004). Silk in Kashmir: History of the Silk Industry in Kashmir, Jay Kay Book Shop, Kashmir, India. Wilson, A. C. (1901). A Woman’s Life for Kashmir: Irene Petrie, a Biography, H. Fleming (Editor), Revell Company, Chicago, United States. Wingate, A. (1888). Preliminary Report of Settlement Operations in Kashmir and Jammu, W. Ball and Co., Lahore, Pakistan.

Bashir Ahmad Department of Geology Sri Pratap School MA Road Srinagar 190001 India [email protected]

Shabir Ahmad Department of Earth Sciences University of Kashmir Hazratbal Srinagar Kashmir 190006 India Akhtar Alam M. Sultan Bhat Department of Geography and Regional Development University of Kashmir Hazratbal Srinagar Kashmir 190006 India Shuhong Wang College of Resources and Civil Engineering Northeastern University 110819 Shenyang People’s Republic of China Published Online 20 May 2015

July/August 2015