Reviewed by USGSTurkey112y ago
M5.5 earthquake 7 km SSW of Belen, Turkey
Saturday, December 25, 1915, 06:06:09 UTC · 36.428°N, 36.166°E
A magnitude 5.5 earthquake struck 7 km SSW of Belen, Turkey on Saturday, December 25, 1915, 06:06:09 UTC, at a depth of 15.0 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M5.6 on December 4, 1905.
- Magnitude
- 5.5
- 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
3 kilotons of TNT
That is about 1/6 of the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 5 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.
Tectonic setting
22 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Anatolian 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 2 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 9 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 24,200 recorded deaths. The most severe:
- 1822
Antakya; Syria: Halab,Dimashq (Damascus);
13 Aug 1822 · 50 km away · intensity XI
20,000 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)tsunami
- 1872M7.3
Antakya (Antioch), Suedije
3 Apr 1872 · 26 km away · intensity X
1,800 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)tsunami
- 1796
Al-Ladhiqiyah (Latakia)
26 Feb 1796 · 140 km away · intensity IX
1,500 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)
- 1893M6.7
Malatya
31 Mar 1893 · 281 km away · intensity IX
400 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)
- 1835
Turkey
23 Aug 1835 · 238 km away · intensity X
300 deathsModerate damage ($1–5M)
- 1735
Nicosia
10 Apr 1735 · 284 km away · intensity IX
200 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.