31 May 1935: Quetta ka zalzala

Atemad E-Magazine 17 October 2026 · 11 minute ka mutalia

Pichle baab mein hum ne shahi jirga aur qabaili intezam ka woh nizam dekha jis ke zariye angrez Balochistan chalate the. Is baab mein ek raat ki kahani hai jis ne is soobe ke daar-ul-hukumat ko chand second mein malbe mein badal diya: 30 aur 31 May 1935 ki darmiyani raat ka Quetta ka zalzala. Is raat ke bare mein hamare pas teen hum asr sarkari ya neem sarkari makhaz hain: hukumat-e-Hind ke Bureau of Public Information ka majmua (August 1935), Kalat aur Chagai ke political agent C. P. Skrine (C. P. Skrine) ka 1936 ka maqala, aur North Western Railway ke engineer R. O. C. Thomson (R. O. C. Thomson) ki 1940 ki report. Halakaton ke aadad in mein ek doosre se mukhtalif hain, is liye hum har adad is ke makhaz ke sath dein ge.

Raat ke teen baje

Skrine ke mutabiq Quetta is Jumma ki raat apne mausam-e-bahar ke urooj par tha: agle din Agent to the Governor General Sir Norman Cater (Norman Cater) ki residency mein garden party thi aur Peer ko badshah ki salgirah ki parade. Skrine Quetta mein film dekh kar raat sarhe barah baje Mastung ke liye rawana hue aur paune do baje soye. Hukumat-e-Hind ke 21 June 1935 ke khulase ke mutabiq zalzala 31 May ko raat teen baje aaya; Thomson waqt teen baj kar teen minute likhte hain. International zalzala markaz (ISC) ke bulletin mein jhatke ka waqt 30 May ko 21 baj kar 32 minute 57 second aalmi waqt darj hai, jo Hindustani miyari waqt ke mutabiq taqriban teen baj kar teen minute banta hai.

Zameen ke neeche kya hua

ISC ka bulletin satahi lehron par is zalzale ki shiddat 7.5 darj karta hai. Isi bulletin mein doosre muhaqqiqin ke satahi lehron wale andaze 7.4 se 7.6 tak hain. Geological Survey of India ke W. D. West (W. D. West) ne zalzale ke baad ke mahine mein mutasira ilaqe ka muayena kiya. Skrine ke bayan ke mutabiq West ne sab se zyada tabahi ka ilaqa Quetta ke shimal maghrib mein Bileli se Kalat ke shimal mein Mund Haji tak taqriban 68 meel lamba aur 16 meel chora bataya, zalzale ka markaz kam gehrai par, ghaliban paanch meel se kam, rakha, aur ehtiyat ke sath ek aisi diraar (fault) ki taraf ishara kiya jo pehle maloom na thi. Chiltan ke janoob se Kalat ke qareeb tak taqriban 65 meel lambi zameeni diraren milin; Mastung Road station ke do meel maghrib mein jahan yeh diraar Nushki railway line se guzri, wahan patri ukhad kar mud gayi. Skrine ke mutabiq 1931 ke Mach ke zalzale mein sau se zyada log mare the magar Quetta mein koi jaan nahin gayi thi.

Mastung ki subah

Skrine ki aankhon dekhi rudad is raat ka sab se qareebi bayan hai. Woh likhte hain ke jage to andhere mein darwaze ke neeche khade the aur un ka bistar chhat ke malbe tale dab chuka tha. Subah tak wazeh ho gaya ke Mastung ka poora qasba khandar hai aur 60 se 70 feesad log halak ya zakhmi hain. Telegraph line toot chuki thi. Quetta jate hue unhon ne patri par ek rail motor trolley dekhi jis par divisional superintendent Bolan ki taraf yeh dekhne ja rahe the ke line bachi hai ya nahin; Skrine ke khayal mein Kolpur se bheje gaye un ke taar hi hukumat-e-Hind ko tabahi ki pehli ittila the. Quetta ki Civil Lines mein "shayad hi koi ghar khara" tha, jabke chhaoni mein tabahi Habib nale se aadh meel aage ja kar ruk gayi, aur fauji hospital salamat rahe.

Fauj aur rail: bachao aur inkhila

Hukumat-e-Hind ke 21 June ke khulase ke mutabiq Quetta ki taqriban poori police khatam ho chuki thi, is liye Western Command ke sarbarah General Karslake (Karslake) ne Sir Norman Cater ke sath mil kar intezam sambhala. Khulase ke mutabiq zalzale ke paintalis minute ke andar British aur Hindustani sipahi andhere hi mein malba hata rahe the, aur pehle chaubis ghanton mein taqriban paanch hazar zakhmiyon ka ilaj hua. Skrine likhte hain ke poora Quetta martial law ke tehat aa chuka tha aur bachao ka kaam sarhe teen baje se jari tha; agle teen din mein fauj ne saikron zinda log aur teen hazar se zyada lashen nikalin. Race course par panah guzeen camp bana. 2 June ki sehpahar shehar ko tibbi mashware par band kar diya gaya, aur 4 June ko badbu aur waba ke khatre se malba hatane ka kaam rok kar shehar ke gird fauji ghera daal diya gaya.

Yahan wahi rail kaam aayi jis ka zikr hum ne do baabon pehle kiya tha. Sarkari khulase ke mutabiq railway ko zyada nuqsan nahin pahuncha tha, aur 2 June ko chhe khusoosi trainen Punjab aur Sindh ke liye rawana huin. 10 June ki report ke mutabiq yaqum June se ab tak taqriban bees hazar log khusoosi trainon se nikale ja chuke the, aur 636 mareez ambulance trainon se. Skrine likhte hain ke maqami logon mein yeh khauf aam tha ke Chiltan aatish fishan ban gaya hai, aur is khauf ne inkhila ko aasan kar diya. 17 June ki report ke mutabiq Dera Ghazi Khan ke chhe se saat hazar log Quetta mein mare gaye the. Martial law 28 June 1935 ko khatam hua, jab "British Balochistan (Emergency Administration) Regulation" nafiz hui.

Kitne log mare?

Koi ek hatmi adad nahin milta; khud sarkari andaze hafton mein badalte rahe:

3 June ki sarkari report: Quetta shehar ki taqriban chalis hazar abadi mein se 26 hazar halak.
6 June: akhbarat mein chhapa 56 hazar ka adad "tasdeeq nahin kiya ja sakta".
7 June: dehat mein 12 se 15 hazar halakaton ka andaza, aur kul tadad "ghaliban 40 hazar se zyada".
10 June: riyasat-e-Kalat mein 2,900 halak aur 5,000 zakhmi.
21 June ka khulasa: "tees hazar log halak hue".
Skrine (1936): Quetta shehar mein kam az kam 24 hazar, gird o nawah ke dehat mein 3 hazar, aur riyasat-e-Kalat mein 3,250; un ke mutabiq Mastung aur gird o nawah mein taqriban 1,125 log mare.
Thomson (1940): Quetta mein taqriban bees hazar, aur dehat aur riyasat-e-Kalat mein taqriban saat hazar. Un ke mutabiq naye Quetta station par 154 railway mulazimin aur un ke 489 rishtedaron ki yadgari takhti lagayi gayi.

Isi jagah, naye usoolon par

Sab se bara sawal yeh tha ke shehar dobara kahan bane. Thomson ke mutabiq hukumat-e-Hind ne 24 December 1935 ki qarardad mein Quetta ko isi jagah dobara banane ka faisla kiya; Skrine ek din pehle ke sarkari ailamiye ka hawala dete hain. Geological Survey ki raye, jo is qarardad mein shamil thi, yeh thi ke poora Balochistan zalzale ka ilaqa hai aur har jagah zalzala mazahim tameer zaroori hai, aur yeh ke is ehtiyat ke sath Quetta kisi aur jagah se kam mehfooz nahin. Skrine ke mutabiq ek aur daleel yeh thi ke 1931 ke baad North Western Railway ne Quetta mein jo bungalow rail ki patriyon ke dhanchay par banaye the, un mein se koi nahin gira. Thomson bhi likhte hain ke yeh imaraten 1935 ke jhatke mein baghair nuqsan ke khadi rahin.

August 1935 mein Central Quetta Reconstruction Committee ki Technical Sub-Committee ne "zalzala proof" imaraton ke usool aur qawaid murattab kiye. Thomson ke mutabiq in mein imarat ko kashish-e-saqal ke aathwen hisse (G/8) ki ufuqi quwwat sehne ke qabil banana lazim tha; railway ne 1931 ke baad G/10 apnaya tha. Yeh qawaid itne mehnge sabit hue ke baad mein narm kiye gaye. Railway ne 1940 tak zalzala mazahim miyar par 2,639 quarter banaye, jin mein se 1,259 Quetta mein the. Skrine likhte hain ke purane shehar ka malba ek chhoti rail line se utha kar shehar ke bahar garhon mein dala ja raha tha, aur tameer-e-nau ke kharch ka andaza kam az kam saat baras tak har saal taqriban ek crore rupay tha.

Dehat ki tameer alag kahani thi. Balochistan Agency ki 1936-37 ki intezami report ke mutabiq Quetta ke zamindaron ko Viceroy ke relief fund se zalzala proof quarter diye gaye, jabke riyasat-e-Kalat mein kareezon ki safai ke baad 1,722 jhonpadiyon ke dhanchay faraham kiye gaye aur mazeed 560 ka mansooba tha.

Skrine ne apna maqala is jumle par khatam kiya ke yeh sab "bees second mein" hua. Is raat ke baad Quetta ki har nayi imarat isi raat ki yaad ke sath uthi.

Makhaz

Government of India, Bureau of Public Information, Quetta Earthquake, 1935: Collection of information made available to the press in the form of communiques, statements and reports regarding the situation and of the measures taken in connection with Relief, Supplies, Evacuation and Salvage, Government of India Press, Simla, 1935 (memorandum dated August 1935): pp. 1–2 (situation reports of 2 and 3 June: 26,000 of 40,000 in Quetta city; refugee camp; six trains); p. 3 (4–5 June: evacuation; salvage suspended; cordon); p. 4 (6–7 June: 56,000 "cannot be confirmed"; 12,000–15,000 in villages; total "probably in excess of 40,000"); p. 5 (10 June: about 20,000 evacuated by special trains; 636 by ambulance trains; Kalat State 2,900 killed, 5,000 injured); pp. 6–7 (17 June: village figures; 6,000–7,000 Derawals killed; 21 June summary: 30,000 dead, "3 a.m.", Karslake and Cater, troops at work within 45 minutes, nearly 5,000 injured treated in first 24 hours, railway "not badly damaged"); pp. 8–9 (city closed 2 June; salvage suspended 4 June); pp. 32–33 (karez repair); p. 35 (British Baluchistan (Emergency Administration) Regulation, II of 1935; martial law ended 28 June 1935). https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.206892
C. P. Skrine, "The Quetta Earthquake", The Geographical Journal, vol. 88, 1936, pp. 414–428 used (paper read before the Royal Geographical Society in June 1936): pp. 414–415 (the Friday night; Skrine at Mastung); pp. 416–418 (Mastung destroyed, 60–70 per cent casualties; rail-motor trolley and first news via Kolpur; slight damage to the main line); pp. 418–419 (Civil Lines destroyed; damage ends half a mile beyond the Habib Nullah; martial law; rescue since 3.30 a.m.; 3,000 corpses; 4,000 injured at the Indian Military Hospital; 1,125 dead around Mastung); p. 422 (West's intensity zone 68 × 16 miles, shallow focus, probable thrust fault, 65-mile fissure, Nushki line track crumpled; 1931 Mach earthquake; footnote: at least 24,000 + 3,000 + 3,250 dead); p. 424 n. (belief that Chiltan was a volcano eased evacuation); pp. 425–428 (decision to rebuild on the same site, Press Communique of 23 December 1935; NWR rail-framed bungalows unharmed; clearance by narrow-gauge railway; about a crore a year for seven years; "Thirty thousand people killed"; "twenty seconds"). https://archive.org/details/dli.pahar.2648
R. O. C. Thomson, Earthquake Reconstruction on Quetta (Railway) Division 1936–40, Railway Board Technical Paper No. 307, East Indian Railway Press, Calcutta, 1940: p. 7 (3-03 a.m.; about 20,000 dead in Quetta and about 7,000 elsewhere; tablet to 154 railwaymen and 489 relatives); pp. 11–12 (Resolution No. D.557-Eq./35 of 24 December 1935 to rebuild on the existing site; Geological Survey view quoted); pp. 12–13 (seismic factor G/8 adopted after 1935, G/10 for railway works after 1931; rules later relaxed; 2,639 units of quarters, 1,259 in Quetta); p. 15 (NWR earthquake-resisting buildings of 1931–35 undamaged in 1935); p. 17 (August 1935 rules of the Technical Sub-Committee, Central Quetta Reconstruction Committee). https://archive.org/details/aclcpl0000021a316
Administration Report of the Baluchistan Agency for the Year 1st April 1936 to the 31st March 1937, Manager of Publications, Delhi, 1938: p. 4 (earthquake-proof quarters for zamindars from the Viceroy's Relief Fund); pp. 42–43 (railway reconstruction branch; 200 permanent earthquake-proof quarters); p. 65, Kalat State section (karez clearance; Rs. 3,60,000 grant; 1,722 hut frames, 560 more planned). https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.73611
International Seismological Centre, ISC Bulletin, event 904311 (origin 1935-05-30 21:32:57 UTC; Ms(ISC) 7.5; other agencies' Ms 7.4–7.6; mB and Mw values also listed) and event bibliography (lists Ambraseys & Bilham 2003, BSSA 93/4, pp. 1573–1605; West 1936; Ramanathan & Mukherji 1938). https://www.isc.ac.uk/cgi-bin/web-db-run?event_id=904311&out_format=ISF&request=COMPREHENSIVE · https://www.isc.ac.uk/cgi-bin/FormatBibprint.pl?evid=904311
N. Ambraseys and R. Bilham, "Earthquakes and Associated Deformation in Northern Baluchistan 1892–2001", Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America 93/4 (2003), pp. 1573–1605, DOI 10.1785/0120020038 (not opened: listed for the reviewer only; nothing in the text rests on it). https://doi.org/10.1785/0120020038

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