Çaldıran–Muradiye Earthquake of 24 November 1976, Ms7.3
An earthquake of magnitude Mw=7 and Ms=7.3 occurred in the border of Iran-Turkey on Non. 24, 1976, at 14:22 local time, (12:22 GMT). The epicenter of the earthquake was reported at 39.12N and 44.02E near Çaldiran region and 25 km northeast of Muradiye. The event had a focal depth of 36 km with a maximum intensity of X on the Mercalli intensity scale. The earthquake was associated with a 50km length of surface faulting, and a maximum dextral offset of 3m was observed. It triggered several surface fissures, settlements and rockfalls.
At the time of the earthquake, most of the buildings in the epicentral area were constructed of thick walls made from rubble masonry cemented with mud mortar and a heavy earth roof with wooden supports. Therefore, about 95% and 80% of the houses were destroyed in Çaldıran and the villages around it, respectively. The November 24, 1976 earthquake is assumed to be the most important seismic event of the last century in the region which claimed about 5,000 people, injured 15,000 and left 51,000 homeless. The earthquake made heavy losses in Turkey as well as border cities of Iran such as “Siah Cheshmeh” and “Khoy”.
More References on this earthquake:
1) Gülkan, P.; Gürpinar, A.; Celebi, M.; Arpat E. & Gencoğlu (1978). Engineering report on the Muradiye-Çaldiran, Turkey, earthquake of 24 November 1976. National Academies, 59 pages.
2) Toksöz, M.N.; Arpat E. & Şaroğlu F. (1977). “East Anatolian earthquake of 24 November 1976”. Nature, Vol. 270, pp. 423–425, doi:10.1038/270423b0.
3) Ohta, Y.; Goto N., Satoh K., Ergünnay O. & Tabban A. (1980). “An engineering seismological study on the 1976 Çaldiran earthquake in Turkey”, Proceedings of the seventh world conference on Earthquake Engineering, Istanbul, Turkey. pp. 399–406.
The most important worldwide earthquakes (M>7) of this day
| Date | Time | Y | X | Depth | Mw | Region | Refrence |
| 1951/11/24 | 18:47:18 | 23.046 | 121.249 | 25 | 7.3 | Taiwan | USGS |
| 1951/11/24 | 18:50:24 | 23.092 | 121.214 | 30 | 7.8 | Taiwan | USGS |
| 1976/11/24 | 12:22:19 | 39.121 | 44.029 | 36 | 7.3 | Turkey-Iran border region | USGS |
| 1983/11/24 | 5:30:34 | -7.481 | 128.168 | 178.5 | 7.3 | Kepulauan Barat Daya, Indonesia | USGS |