List of earthquakes in the Levant

This is a list of earthquakes in the Levant, including earthquakes that either had their epicenter in the Levant or caused significant damage in the region. As it is now, the list is focused on events which affected the territories of modern-day Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine and Syria and to some degree the adjacent areas of South Anatolia, Cyprus island and the Sinai Peninsula (modern Turkey, Cyprus, Northern Cyprus and Egypt).

Seismic hazard for the Eastern Mediterranean from the Global Seismic Hazard Assessment Program (GSHAP) in terms of peak ground acceleration with a 10% chance of being exceeded (or a 90% chance of not being exceeded) within the next 50 years

Seismic hazard

The Jordan Rift Valley is the result of tectonic movements within the Dead Sea Transform (DSF) fault system. The DSF forms the transform boundary between the African Plate to the west and the Arabian Plate to the east. The Golan Heights and all of Transjordan are part of the Arabian Plate, while the Galilee, Judean and Samarian highlands (West Bank), Coastal Plain and Negev along with the Sinai Peninsula are on the African Plate. This tectonic disposition leads to a relatively high seismic activity in the region.

Earthquakes

The region has experienced many earthquakes, the most destructive ones being those of 31 BCE, 363 CE, 749 CE, and 1033 CE. The 1759 events, along with the earlier 1202 Syria earthquake, are likely the strongest historical earthquakes in the region.[1] Some of the earthquakes were also followed by a tsunami - notably in 92 BCE, 115, 306, 502, 551, 881, 1202.

Historic quakes in Bronze and Iron ages

• c.1700 BCE - the Canaanite palace of Tel Kabri destroyed in a major seismic event[2]
• c.1500/1400 BCE - the city of Jericho destroyed and abandoned upon a major seismic event[3]
• c.1365 BCE - A violent earthquake hit Ugarit in the Bronze Era. The layer of destruction that found in level I of Ugarit represents archaeological evidence for the catastrophe.[4]
• c.8th century BCE - a major earthquake described in the book of Amos, affecting ancient Kingdom of Israel and Kingdom of Judah[5]

Major earthquakes

• 140 BCE – disastrous earthquake between Tyre and Ptolemais (Acre/Akko)[6][7]
• 92 BCE – Judean coast hit by tsunamis[8]
• 31 BCE – 31 BCE Judea earthquake: epicenter in the Jordan Valley, magnitude at least 7; among the largest in 2000 years.[6] Josephus Flavius writes of 30,000 people killed.[9] Damages Emmaus and Straton's Tower (renamed Caesarea by Herod the Great).[7]
• 30–33 CE (all following dates in this list are CE) – An earthquake, identified in the geological strata of the Dead Sea and by Roman sources, reported by the Gospels to have taken place during the crucifixion of Jesus[10]
• 115 – 115 Antioch earthquake; Yavne and Caesarea are hit by a tsunami[8]
• 130 – strong earthquakes affect among other places Caesarea, Lydda and Emmaus.[8] Different sources give varying dates: 129,[11] 131[6][12]
• 306 – tsunami on the Levantine coast.[7] Affects are felt in Caesarea, Tiberias, Jerusalem.
• 363 – the Galilee earthquake. See also next (365 CE) earthquake. The failed attempt of the Jews to rebuild the Jerusalem Temple during the reign of Emperor Julian is connected by some to the earthquake.
• 365 – 365 Crete earthquake triggered a large tsunami that inundated the Nile delta.
• 419 – earthquake causes destruction in Antipatris[8]
• 502 – Ptolemais allegedly destroyed (Syriac chronicle of Joshua the Stylite[13]), tsunami hits northern coast,[8] Safed, Latrun (Nicopolis) affected[14]
• 526 – 526 Antioch earthquake
• 551 – 551 Beirut earthquake affects much of the Middle East, possibly largest event in the Levant.[6][7] Gush Halav is destroyed. A major tsunami sweeps the coast from Caesarea to Tripoli, Lebanon[8]
• 633 – affects Emmatha in the Yarmouk Valley[15] and possibly nearby Abila of the Decapolis.[16]
• 658 – affects Syria and Palestine.[7] Jerusalem is badly damaged according to the chronicles of Michael the Syrian and Theophanes the Confessor.[17]
• 672 – Ascalon, Gaza and Ramla hit by strong earthquake[8]
• 746–749 – a series of earthquakes, often confused into one 749 Galilee earthquake. Tiberias, Baysan (Beit She'an) and Hippos were largely destroyed. A large event was centered in the Jordan Valley and had a magnitude of 7.6.[6][7]
• 808 – An earthquake affects Jerusalem.[6] The Dome of the Rock is severely damaged.[18]
• 846 – The Dome of the Rock is severely damaged by an earthquake.[18]
• 847 – 847 Damascus earthquake
• 881 – 881 Acre earthquake. An earthquake on the Levantine coast leads to a tsunami at Acre[7]
• 1015 – The dome of the Dome of the Rock collapses due to an earthquake.[19]
• 1016 – Jerusalem, Jaffa and the region around are affected[6][20]
• 1033–34 – a series of earthquakes which are felt for 40 days destroys Ramla, Jericho and Nablus[6]
• 1063 – a large earthquake hits the Levantine littoral. Acre is badly damaged[8]
• 1068 – ground-rupturing event in Wadi Arabah. Ramla was totally destroyed and lay abandoned for four years after losing some 15,000–25,000 inhabitants in the earthquake.[21]
• 1070 – a large earthquake centered in the Beqaa Valley affects Palestine[6][7]
• 1091 – coastal towns affected, city towers collapse[8]
• 1138 – 1138 Aleppo earthquake
• 1157 – 1157 Hama earthquake
• 1170 – 1170 Syria earthquake: Caesarea damaged by tremor[8]
• 1202 – 1202 Syria earthquake,[14] one of the largest seismic events in written history. It resulted in nearly a million fatalities in the region, including fires and tsunamis
• 1261 – between Akko and Tripoli islands disappear under the sea[8]
• 1660 – Tiberias hit by an earthquake.[22]
• 1752 – coast of Syria and Palestine hit by strong earthquake[8]
• 1759 – Near East earthquakes of 1759, likely among the strongest historical earthquakes in the region.[1]
• 1834 – 1834 Jerusalem earthquake: Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Hebron are affected
• 1837 – Galilee earthquake of 1837, known as the Safed earthquake. The Roum fault, and its extension south to the Sea of Galilee, were sources of the event[23]
• 1856 – 1856 Heraklion earthquake: although the earthquake had an epicenter off the Greek island of Crete, shaking was severe in Cairo, Israel, Palestine and in North Africa. Some people were killed in the Nile delta and Cairo due to collapsing buildings.
• 1927 – 1927 Jericho earthquake. The epicenter was in the northern area of the Dead Sea. Jerusalem, Jericho, Ramle, Tiberias and Nablus were heavily damaged and at least 500 were estimated to have been killed.[24] The death toll in Jerusalem included more than 130 people and around 450 were injured. About 300 houses collapsed or were severely damaged to the point of not being usable. The earthquake caused heavy damage to the domes of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the al-Aqsa Mosque,[25] the Dome of the Rock being badly damaged.[26] The earthquake was especially severe in Nablus where it destroyed around 300 buildings, including the Mosque of Victory and the historic parts of the Great Mosque of Nablus.[25] The death toll in Nablus included more than 150 people and around 250 were injured. In Jericho, a number of houses collapsed, including several relatively new hotels in one of which three female tourists from India were killed.[27] Ramla and Tiberias were also heavily damaged.
• 1955 - 1955 Alexandria earthquake caused damage in the Nile Delta and left at least 18 dead.
• 1969 - 1969 Sharm El Sheikh earthquake affecting the southern Sinai peninsula

Minor earthquakes (below 6.0)

• 1898 – Haifa damaged by earthquake[8]
• 1956 – Chim earthquake: In the south of Lebanon in the Chouf District; 6,000 homes destroyed, and another 17,000 damaged; 136 persons killed. Magnitude - 5.3-5.5 Mw.
• 2008 – A 5.1 M_w  earthquake shook South Lebanon, causing power outages and some building damage on February 15. Of several hundred responses to the USGS' "Did you feel it?" system, three reports from northern coastal Israel indicated that a maximum Mercalli intensity of VI (Strong) was observed there. The oblique-slip shock was also felt lightly in Jerusalem, Cyprus, and Jordan.[28]
• 2020 – A series of 4.7 M_w  earthquakes occurred at a depth of 20 kilometers in the eastern Mediterranean near Burj Islam, Syria.[29][30]

References

1. Daeron et al. 2005, p. 529 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFDaeronKlingerTapponnierElias2005 (help)
6. John L. McKenzie S. J. (1995). Dictionary of the Bible. New York: Touchstone/Simon & Schuster. p. 208. ISBN 978-0-684-81913-6.
7. Walter Hays (2013). "2013 Review of notable earthquakes in the Mediterranean region". University of Pittsburgh.
8. Avner Rabban; Kenneth G. Holum, eds. (1996). Caesarea Maritima: A retrospective after two millennia. Documenta et Monumenta Orientis Antiqui, V. 21 (Book 21). Brill. p. 23. ISBN 9789004103788.
9. Josephus Flavius (2009). "Chapter 19-4" (PDF). The wars of the Jews or history of the destruction of Jerusalem.
10. Williams, Jefferson; Schwab, Markus; Brauer, A. (2011). "An early first-century earthquake in the Dead Sea". International Geology Review. 54 (10): 1219. Bibcode:2012IGRv...54.1219W. doi:10.1080/00206814.2011.639996.
11. "late Roman period - www.emmaus-nicopolis.org".
12. Sharon, 1997, p. 79
13. "Joshua the Stylite, Chronicle composed in Syriac in AD 507". 1882. pp. 1–76.
14. Mohamed Reda Sbeinati; Ryad Darawcheh; Mikhail Mouty (2005). "The historical earthquakes of Syria: an analysis of large and moderate earthquakes from 1365 B.C. to 1900 A.D." Annals of Geophysics, Vol. 48, N. 3, June 2005. pp. 381, 389–391, 410.
15. Khalidi, Walid (1992). All That Remains: The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948. Washington D.C.: Institute for Palestine Studies. p. 518. ISBN 0-88728-224-5.
16. Negev, Avraham; Gibson, Shimon (2001). Abila. Archaeological Encyclopedia of the Holy Land. New York and London: Continuum. pp. 11–12. ISBN 0-8264-1316-1.
17. Gülru Neci̇poğlu, Julia Bailey, ed. (2009). Frontiers of Islamic Art and Architecture: Essays in Celebration of Oleg Grabar's Eightieth Birthday. Muqarnas, Volume XXV. Brill. p. 82, note 14. ISBN 9789004173279.
18. Amiran, D.H.K.; Arieh, E.; Turcotte, T. (1994). "Earthquakes in Israel and adjacent areas: macroseismic observations since 100 B.C.E.". Israel Exploration Journal. 44 (3/4): 260–305 [267]. JSTOR 27926357.
19. St. Laurent, Beatrice; Riedlmayer, András (1993). "Restorations of Jerusalem and the Dome of the Rock and their political significance, 1537–1928" (PDF). In Necipoğlu, Gülru (ed.). Muqarnas. Volume 10: Essays in Honor of Oleg Grabar. Leiden: Brill. pp. 76–84 [31]. JSTOR 1523174.
20. "The Jaffa Cultural Heritage Project".
21. History Archived 2015-11-21 at the Wayback Machine
22. Altshuler, M. The Messianic secret. Chapter 8: The beginning of redemption in Galilee.Hebrew: ספר – הסוד המשיחי‎
23. Ambraseys, Nicolas N. (1997), "The earthquake of 1 January 1837 in Southern Lebanon and Northern Israel" (PDF), Annals of Geophysics, Italian National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, XL (4): 929, doi:10.4401/ag-3887
24. Kallner-Amiran, D. H. "A Revised Earthquake Catalog of Palestine". Retrieved 8 July 2012.
25. Wachs, Daniel; Levitte, Dov (June 1978), Damage Caused By Landslides During the Earthquakes of 1837 and 1927 in the Galilee Region, Geological Survey of Israel
26. Palestine Square (11 July 2016). "And the Land Lurched Forth: Remembering the 1927 Jericho Earthquake". Institute for Palestine Studies (IPS). Retrieved 8 April 2020.
27. Duff, Douglas V. (1934) Sword for Hire. The Saga of a Modern Free-Companion. John Murray, London. 1st Edition. pp.219–227
28. USGS. "M 5.1 – Lebanon – Syria region". United States Geological Survey (USGS).
29. "Earthquake shakes Lebanon and Syria". Arab News. 3 April 2020.
30. "Another Level 4 Earthquake Was Felt in Lebanon Today". the961.com. 15 April 2020.