On September 20th...
M7.7 - Taiwan, 1999
At least 2,400 people killed, 8,700 injured, 600,000 people left homeless and about 82,000 housing units damaged by the earthquake and larger aftershocks. Damage estimated at 14 billion U.S. dollars. Maximum intensity (VI JMA) in Nan-tou and Tai-chung Counties. Half of a village was lost by subsidence into the Ta-an Hsi and landslides blocked the Ching-shui Hsi, creating a large lake. Two other lakes were created by substantial ground deformation near the epicenter. Surface faulting occurred along 75 km of the Chelungpu Fault. Felt (V JMA) at Chia-i and I-lan; (IV JMA) at Kao-hsiung, Taipei and Tai-tung; (IV JMA) on Lan Yu and Peng-hu Tao; (III JMA) at Hua-lien. Felt strongly in Fujian, Guangdong and Zhejiang Provinces. Felt (IV) in Hong Kong. Also felt (II JMA) on Iriomote-jima and Yonaguni-jima; (I JMA) on Ishigaki-jima and Miyako-jima, Ryukyu Islands. Complex earthquake. A small event is followed by a larger one about 11 seconds later.
M6.9 - Menderes Valley, Turkey (Ottoman Empire), 1899
1,100 deaths. Severe damage to buildings, bridges and railroad and telegraph lines in the Aydin-Denizli area. Many landslides occurred, one of which destroyed Ortakci, causing it to be abandoned. Liquefaction was observed throughout the Menderes Valley. A minaret was damaged at Isikli, about 110 km (70 miles) from the epicenter. It was felt from the Marmara region and Eskisehir to Rodhos (Rhodes). The quake seems to be associated with a normal fault running through the valley, and is probably the same fault responsible for the large earthquake of 23 Feb 1653, which caused destruction in the Izmir-Denizli area and killed 2,000- 3,000 people.
From K. Ergin, U. Guclu and Z. Uz, A Catalog of Earthquakes for Turkey and Surrounding Area (11 A.D. to 1964 A.D.), Istanbul Technical University, Faculty of Mining Engineering, Istanbul, Turkey, 1967; and N.N. Ambraseys and C.F. Finkel, Seismicity of Turkey and neighbouring regions, 1899-1915, Annales Geophysicae, 1987, 5B (6), p. 701-726.
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