M5.0 earthquake 17 km NNW of Gaziantep, Turkey
A magnitude 5.0 earthquake struck 17 km NNW of Gaziantep, Turkey on Sun, Aug 3, 1986, 4:33 AM GMT+3 (01:33 UTC), 12 km (7 mi) below the surface.
Map
Where this earthquake was located, with the others nearby. Select one for its page.
The earthquake
- Magnitude
- 5.0 (mb, body-wave), moderate
- Magnitude from
- USGS National Earthquake Information Center
- Local time
- UTC
- 1986-08-03 01:33:20 UTC
- Depth
- 11.5 km (7.1 mi), shallow
- Epicenter
- 37.200° N, 37.300° E
- Region
- Turkey
- Strongest shaking
- VI, strong shaking
- Tsunami flag
- No
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
Magnitude estimates
Different scales measure different things and differ by a few tenths. The USGS marks one as preferred, and it is the one this page uses.
| Mag. | Scale | Computed by | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5.0 | mb, body-wave | USGS National Earthquake Information Center | Preferred · Reviewed · 42 stations |
| 5.28 | Mw, moment | ISC-GEM global catalog | Final · ±0.21 |
Deaths and damage
From NOAA NCEI’s Significant Earthquake Database (record 5106), matched to this event by time and place.
- Damage
- Limited (under about $1 million)
- Houses destroyed
- 73
Where the literature gives no number, NCEI records a description on a scale of 1 to 4, printed here in its words. Damage is in millions of US dollars of the year of the event, not adjusted for inflation.
What happened
The USGS’s account of the effects of this earthquake.
Seventy houses damaged at Yesilce, Ucgoze and Sam, Gaziantep Province; 3 houses damaged at Karabiyikli, Kahraman Maras Province. Felt at Kahramanmaras, Adiyaman and Malatya. Felt also in the Eskisehir area.
From the USGS event page for usp0002wu4. U.S. Geological Survey text and figures are in the public domain.
Shaking
The USGS ShakeMap: shaking estimated from seismic stations and the quake’s size, on the Modified Mercalli intensity scale.
- Strongest estimated
- VI, strong shaking
- Peak ground acceleration
- 17.4% of gravity
- Peak ground velocity
- 2.2 cm/s
- Map
- Automatic
Did you feel it?
No one has reported feeling this quake to the USGS.
Nearest places
Distance and direction from each place to the epicenter, with its forecast.
Nearby
Within 100 km, magnitude 2.0 and up: 2 in the 60 days after this one and 0 in the 30 days before it.
After
Earthquakes todayTurkey earthquakesLive radar here
Sources
From the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program and its partner networks, event usp0002wu4 (also filed as iscgem487828, atlas19860803013320). Read Fri, Oct 2, 2026, 7:14 PM UTC.