The 1966 Varto earthquake occurred on 19 August with a
moment magnitude
The moment magnitude scale (MMS; denoted explicitly with or Mw, and generally implied with use of a single M for magnitude) is a measure of an earthquake's magnitude ("size" or strength) based on its seismic moment. It was defined in a 1979 pape ...
of 6.8 a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (''Violent''). At least 2,394 were killed and up to 1,500 people were injured in the town of
Varto
Varto (, ku, Gimgim, grc-x-medieval, Barzanissa) is a town and district in Muş Province, Turkey.
The population of Varto city is around 13,000 with another 17,000 living in the villages.
The largest population from Varto in Europe is in Berlin ...
in the
Muş Province
Muş Province ( tr, Muş ili, Armenian: Մուշի մարզ, ku, Parêzgeha Mûşê) is a province in eastern Turkey. It is 8,196 km2 in area and has a population of 406,886 according to a 2010 estimate, down from 453,654 in 2000. The provin ...
of eastern
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 ...
.
The earthquake devastated all the structures in Varto.
This disaster was preceded by an earthquake of magnitude 5.6 that hit Varto on 7 March 1966 killing 14 and wounding 75 people.
See also
* List of earthquakes in 1966
This is a list of earthquakes in 1966. Only magnitude 6.0 or greater earthquakes appear on the list. Lower magnitude events are included if they have caused death, injury or damage. Events which occurred in remote areas will be excluded from the ...
* List of earthquakes in Turkey
This is a list of earthquakes in Turkey, including any notable historical earthquakes that have epicenters within the current boundaries of Turkey, or which caused significant effects in this area. Overall, the population in major cities like Ist ...
* North Anatolian Fault
The North Anatolian Fault (NAF) ( tr, Kuzey Anadolu Fay Hattı) is an active right-lateral strike-slip fault in northern Anatolia, and is the transform boundary between the Eurasian Plate and the Anatolian Plate. The fault extends westward fro ...
References
External links
*
1966 Varto
1966 in Turkey
1966 earthquakes
History of Muş Province
August 1966 events in Europe
1966 disasters in Turkey
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