The 2002

Gjilan Gjilan, or Gnjilane ( sr-cyr, Гњилане) is the eighth largest city in Kosovo and seat of Gjilan Municipality and Gjilan District. Name Ottoman chronicler Evliya Çelebi mentions ''Morava'' as a settlement of the Sanjak of Vučitrn. � ...

earthquake was a 5.7 magnitude earthquake that occurred on April 24, 2002 at 12:51:50 p.m.

CET CET or cet may refer to: Places * Cet, Albania * Cet, standard astronomical abbreviation for the constellation Cetus * Colchester Town railway station (National Rail code CET), in Colchester, England Arts, entertainment, and media * Comcast En ...

. This earthquake had a

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 VII (''Very Strong''). It occurred at a depth of 10 km, causing very strong shaking across much of

, moderate shaking in some parts in

Ferizaj Ferizaj, . or Uroševac, . Also formerly known as Ferizovići ( tr, Firzovik). is the sixth largest city in Kosovo by population and seat of Ferizaj Municipality and Ferizaj District. Ferizaj has been populated since the prehistoric era by t ...

, and light tremors across

Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...

, and some tremors across neighboring parts of

Earthquake

The

earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from ...

was one of the strongest

to hit

in many years. 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 ...

was 2 km south of

, and its

hypocenter In seismology, a hypocenter or hypocentre () is the point of origin of an earthquake or a subsurface nuclear explosion. A synonym is the focus of an earthquake. Earthquakes An earthquake's hypocenter is the position where the strain energy s ...

was 10 km deep. In the area close to the

, the greatest recorded

for the DYFI map (Did You Feel It?) was VIII (Severe).

Impact

According to

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

, a man died and at least 100 people were injured. The dead man was Mehmet Salibichaj, a local barber from

. The

caused damage to homes, shops etc. The earthquake lasted 15 seconds, and many stayed in shelters.

Power Outages A power outage (also called a powercut, a power out, a power failure, a power blackout, a power loss, or a blackout) is the loss of the electrical power network supply to an end user. There are many causes of power failures in an electricity ...

and broken gas lines occurred at

Aftershocks

Over the next days, many

aftershock In seismology, an aftershock is a smaller earthquake that follows a larger earthquake, in the same area of the main shock, caused as the displaced crust adjusts to the effects of the main shock. Large earthquakes can have hundreds to thousand ...

s occurred, the largest being a 4.3 magnitude

, 16 km from the

mainshock In seismology, the mainshock is the largest earthquake in a sequence, sometimes preceded by one or more foreshocks, and almost always followed by many aftershocks. Foreshock A foreshock is an earthquake that occurs before a larger seismic eve ...

, occurring at 12:24 p.m. local time, and another 4.3 magnitude

, 5 km from the

at 12:37 a.m.

References

{{Earthquakes in 2002 2002 disasters in Europe Earthquakes in Europe Geology of Kosovo 2002 in Kosovo 2002 earthquakes April 2002 events in Europe

Earthquake

Impact

Aftershocks

See also

References