The 1948 Ashgabat earthquake (; russian: Ашхабадское землетрясение 1948 года, Ashkhabadskoye zemletryasenie 1948 goda) was on 6 October with 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 7.3 and a maximum

Mercalli intensity 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 ...

of X (''Extreme''), in

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркменистан, ) is a country located in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the sout ...

near

Ashgabat Ashgabat or Asgabat ( tk, Aşgabat, ; fa, عشق‌آباد, translit='Ešqābād, formerly named Poltoratsk ( rus, Полтора́цк, p=pəltɐˈratsk) between 1919 and 1927), is the capital and the largest city of Turkmenistan. It lies ...

. Due to censorship by the Soviet government, the event was not widely reported in the USSR's media. Historians tend to agree that the ban on reporting the extent of the casualties and damage did not allow the Soviet government to allocate enough financial resources to respond adequately. It was the strongest earthquake recorded in

Details

The Ashgabat earthquake struck at 1:12 a.m. on October 6, 1948. The

epicenter The epicenter, epicentre () or epicentrum in seismology is the point on the Earth's surface directly above a hypocenter or focus, the point where an earthquake or an underground explosion originates. Surface damage Before the instrumental pe ...

of the earthquake was near the small village of Gara-Gaudan, 25 kilometres southwest of Ashgabat. The earthquake caused extreme damage in Ashgabat and nearby villages, where almost all brick buildings collapsed, concrete structures were heavily damaged, and freight trains were derailed. There were damage and casualties in Darreh Gaz,

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

Surface rupture In seismology, surface rupture (or ground rupture, or ground displacement) is the visible offset of the ground surface when an earthquake rupture along a fault affects the Earth's surface. Surface rupture is opposed by buried rupture, where the ...

was observed northwest and southeast of Ashgabat. Media sources vary on the number of the casualties, from 10,000 to 110,000, equivalent to almost 10% of the Turkmen SSR's population at the time. According to memories of survivors, the city's infrastructure was badly damaged, with the exception of water pipes. Telephone and telegraph service was cut. The city aerodrome's landing strip was cracked. Electricity was restored six days after the earthquake. The railway station began functioning on the third day. Because most motor vehicles were stored either under the open sky or in light plywood garages, most trucks and passenger automobiles were undamaged and proved critical to delivery of medicine and medical supplies from a destroyed pharmaceutical warehouse. All hospitals were destroyed, so medical treatment was rendered on the municipal parade ground "under the trees". This earthquake killed future Turkmen president

Saparmurat Niyazov Saparmurat Atayevich Niyazov; tk, Saparmyrat Ataýewiç Nyýazow, in Cyrillic: Сапармырат Атаевич Ныязов (19 February 1940 – 21 December 2006), also known as Turkmenbashi, was a Turkmen politician who rule ...

's mother

Gurbansoltan Eje Gurbansoltan Eje ("Mother of Gurbansoltan"; born 1913 in Gypjak, Turkmenistan; died 6 October 1948 in Ashgabat during the 1948 Ashgabat earthquake) was the mother of Turkmenistan's first post-Soviet president Saparmurat Niyazov ("Türkmenbaşy"). ...

(his father having died during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

) and the rest of his family, leaving him an orphan. Aid to victims, as well as restoration of basic needs and infrastructure, was provided by the

Soviet Army uk, Радянська армія , image = File:Communist star with golden border and red rims.svg , alt = , caption = Emblem of the Soviet Army , start_date ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ashgabat Earthquake 20th century in Ashgabat 1948 Ashgabat 1948 earthquakes 1948 in the Soviet Union 1948 Ashgabat Earthquakes in Iran Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic 1948 in Iran October 1948 events in Asia 1948 disasters in the Soviet Union 1948 disasters in Iran

Details

See also

References

Further reading

External links