1138 Aleppo earthquake

1138 Aleppo earthquake
1138 Aleppo earthquake is located in Syria
1138 Aleppo earthquake
Local date11 October 1138 (1138-10-11)
MagnitudeMw7.1[1]
Epicenter36°13′N 37°10′E / 36.217°N 37.167°E / 36.217; 37.167
Casualties230,000 dead

The 1138 Aleppo earthquake was among the deadliest earthquakes in history. Its name was taken from the city of Aleppo, in northern Syria, where the most casualties were sustained. The earthquake also caused damage and chaos to many other places in the area around Aleppo.[2] The quake occurred on 11 October 1138 and was preceded by a smaller quake on the 10th.[3] It is frequently listed as the third deadliest earthquake in history,[4] following on from the Shensi and Tangshan earthquakes in China.[5] However, the figure of 230,000 deaths reported by Ibn Taghribirdi in the fifteenth century is most likely based on a historical conflation of this earthquake with earthquakes in November 1137 on the Jazira plain and the large seismic event of 30 September 1139 in the Transcaucasian city of Ganja.[6]

  1. ^ Grǖnthal G.; Wahlström R. (2009). "A harmonized seismicity data base for the EuroMediterranean region" (PDF). Proceedings of the 27th ECGS Workshop 'Seismicity Patterns in the Euro-Med Region: 15–21. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 April 2019.
  2. ^ "Aleppo earthquake of 1138 | Syria". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 13 October 2021.
  3. ^ "Encyclopædia Britannica online". Retrieved 19 October 2011.
  4. ^ Most Destructive Known Earthquakes on Record in the World Archived 1 September 2009 at the Wayback Machine, United States Geological Survey
  5. ^ "MSNBC Deadliest Earthquakes". NBC News. Archived from the original on 4 February 2013. Retrieved 19 October 2011.
  6. ^ Ambraseys, N. (2004), "The 12th century seismic paroxysm in the Middle East: a historical perspective" (PDF), Annals of Geophysics, 47 (2–3), National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology: 743