M6.8 earthquake 27 km E of Narman, Turkey

Sunday, October 30, 1983, 04:12:27 UTC · 40.330°N, 42.187°E

A magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck 27 km E of Narman, Turkey on Sunday, October 30, 1983, 04:12:27 UTC, at a depth of 11.6 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M7.3 on November 24, 1976.

Magnitude: 6.8; Strong · mw
Depth: 12 km; Shallow
Felt reports: 0; Did You Feel It?
Est. shaking: IX; Violent (ShakeMap)
PAGER alert: None; Not issued
Tsunami: No flag; USGS feed

Outlined circle: this earthquakeDashed circle: 100 km aftershock search areaColoured lines: estimated shaking intensity (USGS ShakeMap)

In context

How big was it, and why here?

Energy released

239 kilotons of TNT

That is about 16 times the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 501 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.

Tectonic setting

171 km

from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Anatolian and Eurasian plates. Earthquakes this far from a boundary happen on faults inside a plate, often less frequently but sometimes strongly.

Depth: shallow

12 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 lists 9 M2.5+ earthquakes within 100 km in the following 30 days; the largest was M5.3 on October 30, 1983. Most nearby activity right after a large earthquake is aftershocks, which usually become less frequent over days and weeks.

Time after the mainshock on a logarithmic scale (first hours stretched), magnitude on the vertical axis. M2.5+ events from USGS.

Regional history

Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km

USGS lists 126 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 61 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 75,044 recorded deaths. The most severe:

1939M7.8
Erzincan
26 Dec 1939 · 226 km away · intensity XII
32,700 deaths$20 million damagetsunami
1859M6.1
Erzurum
2 Jun 1859 · 89 km away
15,000 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)
1976M7.0
Muradiye
24 Nov 1976 · 212 km away · intensity X
5,000 deaths$60 million damage
1784
Erzurum,Erzincan
23 Jul 1784 · 239 km away
5,000 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)
1903M6.3
Malazgirt
28 Apr 1903 · 139 km away · intensity X
3,560 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)
1966M6.8
Varto
19 Aug 1966 · 133 km away · intensity IX
2,394 deaths$20 million damage

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

Nearby trackers