The 2000 Baku earthquake occurred on November 25 at 22:09 (18:09
UTC)
local time
Local time is the time observed in a specific locality. There is no canonical definition. Originally it was mean solar time, but since the introduction of time zones it is generally the time as determined by the time zone in effect, with daylight s ...
with an
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 ...
just offshore
Baku,
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of t ...
. It measured 6.8 on the
moment magnitude scale
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 ...
and the maximum felt intensity was VI on the
Mercalli intensity scale.
It was followed three minutes later by a quake measuring 5.9. It was the strongest for almost 160 years, since
1842
Events
January–March
* January
** Michael Alexander takes office, as the first appointee to the Anglican-German Bishopric in Jerusalem.
** American medical student William E. Clarke of Berkshire Medical College becomes the first pe ...
in the Baku suburbs and in addition to the capital affected
Sumgayit,
Shamakhi
Shamakhi ( az, Şamaxı, ) is a city in Azerbaijan and the administrative centre of the Shamakhi District. The city's estimated population was 31,704. It is famous for its traditional dancers, the Shamakhi Dancers, and also for perhaps giving it ...
and neighboring cities. According to the
United States Geological Survey
The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...
, the epicentre was in the
Caspian Sea
The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, often described as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia; east of the Caucasus, west of the broad steppe of Central Asia ...
, 25 km to the south-southeast of Baku. The earthquake was felt as far away as e.g.
Tbilisi
Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million p ...
, 600 km northwest of the epicentre,
Makhachkala
Makhachkala ( rus, Махачкала, , məxətɕkɐˈla, links=yes),; av, Махӏачхъала, Maħaçqala; ce, ХӀинжа-ГӀала, Hinƶa-Ġala; az, Маһачгала, Mahaçqala; nog, Махачкала; lbe, Махачкъала; ...
and the Karabudakh and Isberbas settlements in
Dagestan.
Tectonic setting
Baku lies on the
Absheron peninsula
The Absheron Peninsula ( az, Abşeron yarımadası) is a peninsula in Azerbaijan. It is the location of Baku, the biggest and the most populous city of the country, and also the Baku metropolitan area, with its satellite cities Sumqayit and Khyrd ...
close to the northern edge of the broad and complex zone of deformation caused by the continuing
collision
In physics, a collision is any event in which two or more bodies exert forces on each other in a relatively short time. Although the most common use of the word ''collision'' refers to incidents in which two or more objects collide with great fo ...
between the
Arabian Plate
The Arabian Plate is a minor tectonic plate in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres.
It is one of the three continental plates (along with the African and the Indian Plates) that have been moving northward in geological history and colliding ...
and the
Eurasian Plate
The Eurasian Plate is a tectonic plate that includes most of the continent of Eurasia (a landmass consisting of the traditional continents of Europe and Asia), with the notable exceptions of the Indian subcontinent, the Arabian subcontinent and ...
. There are two main active seismic zones on the Absheron peninsula. The northern zone is part of the North Caucasus thrust belt that continues to the east along the
Apsheron Sill, which is interpreted to be a zone of active
subduction. Earthquakes recorded in the northern zone are mainly deep reverse or shallow normal in type.
The southern zone is interpreted to be a continuation of the Greater Caucasus thrust. Earthquakes in this area are mainly reverse or right lateral strike-slip in type.
Earthquake
The earthquake consisted of two closely spaced events 90 seconds apart. The first event had an oblique reverse fault mechanism on a steeply-
dipping fault trending northwest–-southeast, while the second was pure reverse in type on a moderately-dipping reverse fault trending west-northwest–east-southeast. Within the uncertainties, the two events occurred at the same depth, at about 40 km.
Damage
According to the Azerbaijani government, 26 people died as a primary result, but only three people in collapsing buildings. A total of 412 people were either hospitalised or sought medical assistance. President
Heydar Aliyev
Heydar Alirza oghlu Aliyev ( az, Һејдәр Әлирза оғлу Әлијев, italic=no, Heydər Əlirza oğlu Əliyev, ; , ; 10 May 1923 – 12 December 2003) was a Soviet and Azerbaijani politician who served as the third president of Az ...
announced that more than 90 buildings and apartment blocks have been seriously damaged. Damage was identified at the
German church, the 15th century
Shirvanshahs' Palace, the
Opera and Ballet Theatre, the
Taza Pir Mosque, the Blue Mosque and the
Palace of Marriage Registrations. Despite affecting northeastern coastline of Azerbaijan no damage to the offshore oil exploration infrastructure has been reported.
Many phone lines were down and the electricity was out in much of the city. Due to anxiety caused by possible fires the natural gas supply was reduced to 80%. Baku and Sumgait residents spent the rest of the night on the street. After the disaster
seismologists have banned the construction of buildings with over nine floors.
On the same day the earthquake in
Saratov caused by tectonic changes in the
Volga
The Volga (; russian: Во́лга, a=Ru-Волга.ogg, p=ˈvoɫɡə) is the longest river in Europe. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Caspian Sea. The Volga has a length of , and a catchm ...
region after the Baku earthquake took place.
Aftermath
Following the presidential decree of November 28, 2000, the State Emergency Commission was provided with an amount of ca. US$5,5 million in order to deal with the consequences of the earthquake. The SEC dispatched assessment teams to the affected areas. In Baku, as of November 27, 19 families have been evacuated from three severely damaged houses. Schools have been temporarily closed.
The
UN Disaster Management Team, composed of
UNDP
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)french: Programme des Nations unies pour le développement, PNUD is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human dev ...
,
UNHCR
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integrat ...
,
UNICEF
UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing humanitarian and developmental aid to ...
,
UNFPA
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), formerly the United Nations Fund for Population Activities, is a UN agency aimed at improving reproductive and maternal health worldwide. Its work includes developing national healthcare strategies ...
, and
WHO
Who or WHO may refer to:
* Who (pronoun), an interrogative or relative pronoun
* Who?, one of the Five Ws in journalism
* World Health Organization
Arts and entertainment Fictional characters
* Who, a creature in the Dr. Seuss book '' Horton He ...
, was established in order to consider opportunities to support the governmental efforts. The
IFRC
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is a worldwide humanitarian aid organization that reaches 160 million people each year through its 192-member National Societies. It acts before, during and after disas ...
launched an emergency appeal for international assistance amounting to US$590,000.
See also
*
List of earthquakes in 2000
*
List of earthquakes in Azerbaijan
This list of earthquakes in Azerbaijan, is a list of notable earthquakes that have affected areas within the current boundaries of Azerbaijan.
See also
*Geology of Azerbaijan
References
{{Europe topic, List of earthquakes in
Azerbaijan
...
References
External links
Massive earthquake rocks Caspian Sea port– CNN
The only existing video footage of the earthquakeAzerbaijan: Earthquake–
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:2000 Baku Earthquake
Baku earthquake
Baku earthquake, 2000
Articles containing video clips
History of Baku
Baku
Baku