The 1893 Malatya earthquake occurred at 02:30 local time on 3 March in

Malatya Malatya ( hy, Մալաթիա, translit=Malat'ya; Syro-Aramaic ܡܠܝܛܝܢܐ Malīṭīná; ku, Meletî; Ancient Greek: Μελιτηνή) is a large city in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey and the capital of Malatya Province. The city ha ...

Eastern Anatolia Region The Eastern Anatolia Region ('' tr, Doğu Anadolu Bölgesi'') is a geographical region of Turkey. The most populous province in the region is Van Province. Other populous provinces are Malatya, Erzurum and Elazığ. It is bordered by the Black ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. It had a

surface wave magnitude The surface wave magnitude (M_s) scale is one of the magnitude scales used in seismology to describe the size of an earthquake. It is based on measurements of Rayleigh surface waves that travel along the uppermost layers of the Earth. This ma ...

of 7.1 and reached maximum felt intensity of X (''Extreme'') on the

Mercalli intensity scale The Modified Mercalli intensity scale (MM, MMI, or MCS), developed from Giuseppe Mercalli's Mercalli intensity scale of 1902, is a seismic intensity scale used for measuring the intensity of shaking produced by an earthquake. It measures the eff ...

. This destructive earthquake caused 885 deaths and 164 injuries.

Tectonic setting

The earthquake was located near the

East Anatolian Fault The East Anatolian Fault ( tr, Doğu Anadolu Fay Hattı) is a major strike-slip fault zone in eastern Turkey. It forms the transform type tectonic boundary between the Anatolian Plate and the northward-moving Arabian Plate. The difference in t ...

; a northeast–southwest left-lateral

transform fault A transform fault or transform boundary, is a fault along a plate boundary where the motion is predominantly horizontal. It ends abruptly where it connects to another plate boundary, either another transform, a spreading ridge, or a subductio ...

representing the boundary between the Anatolian and Arabian plates. The fault displays slip rates that decrease from the east at per year to the west, where it is per year. The fault produced large earthquakes in 1789 (M 7.2), 1795 (M 7.0), 1872 (M 7.2), 1874 (M 7.1), 1875 (M 6.7), 1893 (M 7.1), and 2020 (6.8). These earthquakes ruptured individual segments of the fault. The seismically active

Palu Palu, which is officially known as the City of Palu (Indonesian: ''Kota Palu''), is the capital and largest city of Central Sulawesi. Palu is located on the northwestern coast of Sulawesi and borders Donggala Regency to the north and west, Pari ...

and

Pütürge Pütürge or Pötürge ( ku, Şîro) is a district of Malatya Province of Turkey. The mayor is Mehmet Polat ( AKP). Composition The district is populated by Kurds (both Alevi Alevism or Anatolian Alevism (; tr, Alevilik, ''Anadolu Aleviliğ ...

segments in the east display a recurrence interval of about 150 years for M 6.8–7.0 earthquakes. The

Pazarcık Pazarcık is a town and district in the southern part of Kahramanmaraş Province in Turkey. The mayor Hayrettin Güngör from the Justice and Development Party (AKP) was elected in the local elections 2019. Kaymakam is Adil Nas. The cement plan ...

and

Amanos The Nur Mountains ( tr, Nur Dağları, "Mountains of Holy Light"), formerly known as Alma-Dağ, the ancient Amanus ( grc, Ἁμανός), medieval Black Mountain, or Jabal al-Lukkam in Arabic, is a mountain range in the Hatay Province of south ...

segments in the west have recurrence intervals of 237–772 years and 414–917 years, respectively, for M 7.0–7.4 earthquakes. This intracontinental transform fault is the second largest strike-slip fault in Turkey.

Earthquake

The shock had a surface wave magnitude of 7.1 and was assigned a maximum intensity of X (''Extreme'') on the Mercalli intensity scale. was part of a seismic sequence involving 6.7–7.0 earthquakes along the East Anatolian Fault from 1866 to 1905. It ruptured a segment of the fault southwest of

Lake Hazar Lake Hazar ( tr, Hazar Gölü, hy, Ծովք լիճ, Covk‘ lič) is a rift lake in the Taurus Mountains, 22 km southeast of Elazığ, notable as the source of the Tigris. It was formerly known as Lake Geoljuk. During the Armenian geno ...

Impact

The shock affected a long by wide area that encompassed the districts of Kubeli,

Behesni Besni ( ku, Bêsnî) is a town and district of Adıyaman Province of Turkey, 44 km west of the city of Adıyaman. History The city was historically known as Bahasna. It was controlled by the Byzantines until it was captured by the Umayyad arm ...

, Hisn-Mansur, Akcedağ, Karakiahta and Mirdis. A total of 885 people died and 164 were injured. In Akcedağ, 2,719 of its 11,740 homes were totally destroyed, 1,345 were uninhabitable and 2,195 were damaged. An estimated 5,100 homes in the villages between Malatya and

were destroyed; the remaining 1,900 were damaged. In these villages, 42

marketplaces A marketplace or market place is a location where people regularly gather for the purchase and sale of provisions, livestock, and other goods. In different parts of the world, a marketplace may be described as a '' souk'' (from the Arabic), ' ...

, two mosques, a church and school were also destroyed. The death toll in the villages stood at 285 and 77 were injured. At least 3,260 sheep and 226 cattle also died. In Adıyaman, 22 died and 26 were injured; a third of its 3,500 homes were razed; another third were damaged. Eight villages near Malatya were demolished and 124 deaths were reported. In Malatya, homes were damaged though few collapsed; about 300 people died. Three churches, 47 mosques, 14 religious schools, the barracks in the town and two telegraph stations were razed. Some homes and government buildings in

Elbistan Elbistan ( 1ca, Ablasta, Ablastayn, Ablastin, Ablistan;Aksüt, Ali"''On the Alevism of Elbistan, Nurhak, Ekinozu and Afsin - Elbistan Nurhak Ekinözü Afşin Aleviliği Üzerine - Zum Alevitentum in Elbistan, Nurhak, Ekinözü und Afşin''"- Alevi ...

and

Gaziantep Gaziantep (), previously and still informally called Aintab or Antep (), is a major city and capital of the Gaziantep Province, in the westernmost part of Turkey's Southeastern Anatolia Region and partially in the Mediterranean Region, approximat ...

were destroyed. Aftershocks which were felt until 12 March caused further damage. A cholera outbreak the same year killed 896 people. The reconstruction of demolished buildings began in 1894.

References

{{Earthquakes in Turkey Earthquakes in Turkey History of Malatya Province 1893 in the Ottoman Empire History of Malatya

Tectonic setting

Earthquake

Impact

See also

References