Reviewed by USGSSyria109y ago
M6.4 earthquake 43 km WNW of Ţarţūs, Syria
Sunday, September 29, 1918, 12:07:15 UTC · 35.075°N, 35.462°E
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck 43 km WNW of Ţarţūs, Syria on Sunday, September 29, 1918, 12:07:15 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
- 6.4
- Strong · mw
- Depth
- 15 km
- Shallow
- Felt reports
- 0
- Did You Feel It?
- Est. shaking
- VI
- Strong (ShakeMap)
- PAGER alert
- None
- Not issued
- Tsunami
- No flag
- USGS feed
Outlined circle: this earthquakeColoured lines: estimated shaking intensity (USGS ShakeMap)
In context
How big was it, and why here?
Energy released
56 kilotons of TNT
That is about 4 times the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 117 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.
Tectonic setting
34 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Anatolian and African 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 100 km
USGS has not published any M2.5+ earthquake within 100 km in the 30 days after this event.
Regional history
Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km
USGS lists 1 M5.0+ earthquake 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 9 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 61,500 recorded deaths. The most severe:
- 1759M7.4
Baalbec; Syria: Damascus, Antioch
25 Nov 1759 · 199 km away · intensity IX
30,000 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)tsunami
- 1822
Antakya; Syria: Halab,Dimashq (Damascus);
13 Aug 1822 · 114 km away · intensity XI
20,000 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)tsunami
- 1837M6.4
Zefat (Safed); Lebanon: Beirut (Beyrout)
1 Jan 1837 · 231 km away · intensity X
6,000 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)tsunami
- 1759M6.6
Zefat (Safed)
30 Oct 1759 · 231 km away · intensity IX
2,000 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)tsunami
- 1872M7.3
Antakya (Antioch), Suedije
3 Apr 1872 · 142 km away · intensity X
1,800 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)tsunami
- 1796
Al-Ladhiqiyah (Latakia)
26 Feb 1796 · 34 km away · intensity IX
1,500 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.