7.3 Mw Earthquake hits Turkey (Confirmed USGS and EMSC)

Source

Earthquake Details

This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.

Magnitude 7.3
Date-Time

Sunday, October 23, 2011 at 10:41:21 UTC
Sunday, October 23, 2011 at 01:41:21 PM at epicenter

Location 38.627°N, 43.535°E
Depth 7.2 km (4.5 miles) set by location program
Region EASTERN TURKEY
Distances

19 km (12 miles) NE (43°) from Van, Turkey
116 km (72 miles) N (351°) from Hakkari, Turkey
130 km (81 miles) SSE (161°) from Karakose (Agri), Turkey
192 km (119 miles) SSW (206°) from YEREVAN, Armenia

Location Uncertainty Error estimate not available
Parameters Nph=0, Dmin=0 km, Rmss=0 sec, Gp= 0,
M-type="moment" magnitude from initial P wave (tsuboi method) (Mi/Mwp), Version=1
Source

U.S. Geological Survey, National Earthquake Information Center:
World Data Center for Seismology, Denver

Event ID usb0006bqc

EMSC have this as a 6.4 Mb which is a massive difference so i am not convinced about the USGS figure.

Magnitude mb 6.4
Region EASTERN TURKEY
Date time 2011-10-23 10:41:26.8 UTC
Location 38.82 N ; 43.50 E
Depth 47 km
Distances 38 km N Van (pop 371,713 ; local time 13:41:26.8 2011-10-23)
26 km SE Ercis (pop 91,915 ; local time 13:41:26.8 2011-10-23)

Either way this IS a serious earthquake for this area.

I guess this may not be downgraded.

EMSC have just brought it up to 7.3 Mw so it is confirmed as a 7+ I think.

Turkey's Kandilli observatory earlier gave it a preliminary magnitude of 6.6. There are no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

Both agencies say the quake occurred at 1:41 p.m. (1041 GMT) Sunday. Its epicenter was in the village of Tabanli in eastern Van province, bordering Iran.

Source

reply to post by PuterMan


Here is the Trace from Etna's monitoring.

According to Turkish media reports, a number of buildings had collapsed in Van, but other details were not immediately available.

Source

Regrettably it is the nature of this area that there will be casualties, which may be numerous.

Double thread, is already posted here ..

Lo0l ..

www.abovetopsecret.com...

WOW

dont know much about the history of earthquakes but i didn't think there could be a big one like that in europe/ M.E. border...

quite a shallow quake too, prob be a good bit of damage. hope people escaped the worst of it.

reply to post by Tzavros


Thanks for that Tzavros. I was just about to post myself. Good trace that.

Here is Armenia. GNI.IU.10.BHZ.2011.296

Seeing as the Turkish seismology service put it a 6.6 I am wondering. That really does not look like a 7.3 at a station only 122 miles form the epicentre.

reply to post by scoobyrob

That part of the world has a very, very long history of major earthquakes, all the way from Iran and surrounding areas, down through Turkey and into the Mediterranean -- especially Greece. For example, the Colossos of Rhodes was destroyed by an earthquake over 2200 years ago -- and Rhodes is only about 18 km over the water from Turkey.

Regards,

Mike

reply to post by scoobyrob


Yes unfortunately Turkey is probably the most likely to have a large earthquake in the European area. It has a long history of them. Greece can also sometimes pack a punch.

Having said that large (7.0+) earthquakes are not so common in Europe as you say.

@Mike: We posted at the same time. Good thing we said the same

reply to post by Dalke07

True, your thread was posted 3 minutes before this one, and I posted a reply there. But this thread has a lot more technical information and maps. I'd be happy if both threads stay active for now. It's up to the mods to decide, of course, but different threads on a major event can sometimes work well, if one mainly focuses on the technical aspects and the other looks at the more human side.

Just my opinion, though. We'll have to see how it goes in Turkey. My feeling is that this could be quite bad, just because of the way houses are built there.

Mike

USGS have a tensor solution.

USGS WPhase Moment Solution

11/10/23 10:41:21

Epicenter: 38.627 43.534
MW 7.2

USGS/WPHASE CENTROID MOMENT TENSOR
11/10/23 10:41:21.00
Centroid: 38.527 43.790
Depth 11 No. of sta: 89
Moment Tensor; Scale 10**19 Nm
Mrr= 5.09 Mtt=-5.75
Mpp= 0.66 Mrt=-4.00
Mrp=-3.80 Mtp=-0.45
Principal axes:
T Val= 8.07 Plg=60 Azm=118
N = -0.65 19 248
P = -7.43 20 346

Best Double Couple:Mo=7.8*10**19
NP1:Strike=108 Dip=30 Slip= 133
NP2: 240 69 68

Source

We will have to wait for the other tensor solutions but it will go to 7.2 based on that one.

cheers for the lesson!!

@ putterman, so what you mean? the turkish sismo might have it more accuratly than the other one's??

Originally posted by JustMike
reply to post by Dalke07

 

True, your thread was posted 3 minutes before this one, and I posted a reply there.

But this thread has a lot more technical information and maps. I'd be happy if both threads stay active for now. It's up to the mods to decide, of course, but different threads on a major event can sometimes work well, if one mainly focuses on the technical aspects and the other looks at the more human side.

Just my opinion, though. We'll have to see how it goes in Turkey. My feeling is that this could be quite bad, just because of the way houses are built there.

Mike

Problem is moods close my thread in past for double thread rules, and I put so mach good information and time but moods close ..

No rules here any kind for some members ..

Looks like we all here don't have same justice ..

You can close moods my thread I don't have will to put anything on my thread anymore ..

reply to post by Dalke07


Sorry about that. Happens when both are posted so close together.

I am sure the mods will decide what to do about it.

Problem is moods close my thread in past for double thread rules ..

No rules here any kind for some members ..

Looks we are all not respected same ..

I have no problem if the mods direct to your thread. Where I would agree if I had posted a long time after you then your should be first, and I have no problem with that. You were probably posting as I was gathering info having already initiated the thread. It is certainly not that I want mine to remain in favour of yours.

I will alert the mods now and ask them to close mine.

This is the largest earthquake near to the city of Van since a mag 7.3 on 11/11/76 -- 35 years ago. However, that quake was 36 km deep, whereas this one is much shallower and therefore potentially much more damaging.

Details of previous quakes for the region (and maps) may be found at Earthquake Track (dot) com.

Mike

BBC are saying a 7 storey building has collapsed causing casualties/deaths.

Did any of the earthquake predicters on here say anything about this one? Nothing springs to mind.

Date/Time UTC,Latitude,Longitude,Magnitude,Depth(Km),Location
2011-10-23 11:32:41, 38.803, 43.291, 5.5, 5.0, Eastern Turkey
2011-10-23 11:10:57, 38.884, 43.422, 4.5, 15.0, Eastern Turkey
2011-10-23 11:00:14, 38.561, 43.528, 4.2, 10.0, Eastern Turkey
2011-10-23 10:56:53, 38.748, 43.402, 5.6, 50.0, Eastern Turkey
2011-10-23 10:48:20, 38.760, 43.677, 4.4, 66.0, Eastern Turkey
2011-10-23 10:41:21, 38.627, 43.534, 7.3, 7.2, Eastern Turkey
2011-10-22 20:56:30, 39.669, 38.708, 3.2, 10.0, Eastern Turkey
2011-10-22 15:11:17, 38.212, 38.282, 3.0, 2.0, Eastern Turkey
2011-10-22 10:00:10, 38.991, 42.346, 3.1, 22.0, Eastern Turkey
2011-10-22 09:55:59, 38.974, 42.344, 3.8, 14.0, Eastern Turkey
2011-10-22 05:24:20, 40.046, 38.142, 3.2, 2.0, Eastern Turkey
2011-10-22 00:08:32, 39.631, 38.652, 3.0, 7.0, Eastern Turkey
2011-10-21 17:49:55, 40.940, 42.541, 3.5, 13.0, Eastern Turkey
2011-10-20 02:15:19, 38.368, 39.017, 3.0, 21.0, Eastern Turkey
2011-10-20 02:01:01, 39.633, 38.687, 3.2, 7.0, Eastern Turkey
2011-10-19 13:34:19, 39.654, 38.693, 3.7, 4.0, Eastern Turkey
2011-10-18 08:00:40, 38.134, 39.274, 3.2, 2.0, Eastern Turkey
2011-10-16 04:02:31, 39.584, 38.656, 3.4, 5.0, Eastern Turkey

Aftershocks coming in now. Note the run of smaller ones before.

Another 5.6 just in to add to that list.

reply to post by persianista

I certainly didn't. I kn ow that for sure... In fact, no-one specifically spoke of Turkey within this time frame, as far as I'm aware, and I tend to keep an eye out for things like that. A member (diamondsmith, IIRC) mentioned on the quake watch thread around a week ago that he was expecting something major very soon in the dodecanese region -- which is just off the coast of Turkey, in fact.

If it had been my prediction I wouldn't claim it as a "hit" but would consider the proximity in time and place as interesting and worth noting.

Mike

reply to post by PuterMan

I see that USGS have just upgraded that 5.5 aftershock to a 5.6:

Magnitude 5.6 - EASTERN TURKEY
2011 October 23 10:56:50 UTC

* Details
* Maps

Earthquake Details

* This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.

Magnitude 5.6
Date-Time

* Sunday, October 23, 2011 at 10:56:50 UTC
* Sunday, October 23, 2011 at 01:56:50 PM at epicenter

Location 38.668°N, 43.332°E
Depth 20.4 km (12.7 miles)
Region EASTERN TURKEY
Distances

* 19 km (12 miles) NNW (347°) from Van, Turkey
* 121 km (75 miles) SSE (168°) from Karakose (Agri), Turkey
* 124 km (77 miles) NNW (343°) from Hakkari, Turkey
* 196 km (122 miles) SSW (211°) from YEREVAN, Armenia

Location Uncertainty horizontal +/- 13.6 km (8.5 miles); depth +/- 6 km (3.7 miles)
Parameters NST=269, Nph=269, Dmin=46.8 km, Rmss=0.68 sec, Gp= 36°,
M-type=body wave magnitude (Mb), Version=2
Source

* Magnitude: USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)
Location: USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)

Event ID usb0006br1

Source: USGS

Only a slight revision but thought it worth posting in any case.

Mike