M5.7 earthquake 8 km N of Başkale, Turkey

Thursday, April 25, 1918, 02:22:57 UTC · 38.118°N, 44.001°E

A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck 8 km N of Başkale, Turkey on Thursday, April 25, 1918, 02:22:57 UTC, at a depth of 15.0 km (shallow). No earthquake of this size or larger appears within 300 km in the USGS catalog since 1900.

Magnitude: 5.7; Moderate · mw
Depth: 15 km; Shallow
Felt reports: 0; Did You Feel It?
Est. shaking: —; No ShakeMap
PAGER alert: None; Not issued
Tsunami: No flag; USGS feed

Outlined circle: this earthquake

In context

How big was it, and why here?

Energy released

6 kilotons of TNT

That is about 1/2 of the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 13 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.

Tectonic setting

81 km

from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Eurasian and Arabian plates. Earthquakes cluster along boundaries like this one, where plates collide, pull apart or slide past each other.

Depth: shallow

15 km

Shallow earthquakes (under 70 km) produce the strongest surface shaking for their size, so they are the ones most likely to cause damage near the epicenter.

Did You Feel It?

Where it was felt

No “Did You Feel It?” reports have been published for this event yet. If you felt it, you can add your report on the USGS website.

I felt it — report to USGS ↗

USGS PAGER estimate

Who was exposed to shaking

USGS publishes PAGER impact estimates for significant earthquakes, usually within an hour. No PAGER estimate is available for this event.

After the main event

Aftershocks within 75 km

USGS has not published any M2.5+ earthquake within 75 km in the 30 days after this event.

Regional history

Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km

USGS lists 4 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:

History · NOAA

Deadliest earthquakes in this area

NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 25 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 183,724 recorded deaths. The most severe:

1727
Tabriz
18 Nov 1727 · 202 km away · intensity VIII
77,000 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)
1780M7.7
Tabriz
8 Jan 1780 · 193 km away · intensity IX
50,000 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)
1721M7.7
Tabriz
26 Apr 1721 · 238 km away
40,000 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)
1779M6.5
Tabriz
27 Dec 1779 · 237 km away · intensity VII
10,000 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)
1903M6.3
Malazgirt
28 Apr 1903 · 170 km away · intensity X
3,560 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)
1840M6.7
Mt Ararat, Aguri, Aralikh; Iran: Maku
2 Jul 1840 · 179 km away · intensity IX
1,049 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)

NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.

Nearby trackers