Historedia
Asia PacificEvent

Major earthquake strikes Sumatra

When
1833
Where
Western Sumatra and Bengkulu
Episodes
1

A major earthquake struck Sumatra on November 25, 1833, at approximately 22:00 local time. Estimated magnitude ranges from 8.8 to 9.2 Mw, shaking Bengkulu and Western Sumatra. The event is part of a series of great megathrust earthquakes recorded in the region, with rupture extent determined via coral microatolls on the Mentawai islands.

Episodes

  1. 1833-11-25 · Western Sumatra and Bengkulu1833 Sumatra Earthquake

    A major earthquake struck Sumatra on November 25, 1833, with an estimated magnitude of 8.8–9.2 Mw.

Background and detail

Background. Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia, an elongated landmass spanning a diagonal northwest–southeast axis. The island lies along a margin where great or giant megathrust earthquakes have been recorded historically, including events in 1797, 1833, 1861, 2004, 2005 and 2007, most of them associated with devastating tsunamis.

Magnitude and Effects. The earthquake's magnitude is estimated between 8.8 and 9.2 Mw. The legacy claim of 8.7 is unsupported by the provided sources. The rupture extent was determined using relative sea level changes on coral microatolls from the Mentawai islands, which run parallel to the Sumatran coast.

Historical Context. The 1833 earthquake is part of a recorded history of great or giant megathrust earthquakes in Sumatra. These events, including those in 1797, 1861, 2004, 2005, and 2007, have been associated with devastating tsunamis. The 1833 event specifically shook Bengkulu and Western Sumatra.

Sources

  1. 1833 Sumatra earthquake Wikipedia, revision of 2026-07-26
  2. Sumatra Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-27

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.