Turkey earthquakes

M7.2 earthquake 8 km S of Düzce, Turkey

A magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck 8 km S of Düzce, Turkey on Fri, Nov 12, 1999, 6:57 PM GMT+2 (16:57 UTC), 10 km (6 mi) below the surface.

Düzce forecast More in Turkey

Map

Where this earthquake was located, with the others nearby. Select one for its page.

Open the live map with earthquakes

The earthquake

Magnitude: 7.2 (Mwc, centroid moment), major
Magnitude from: USGS National Earthquake Information Center
Local time: Fri, Nov 12, 1999, 6:57 PM GMT+2
UTC: 1999-11-12 16:57:19 UTC
Depth: 10.0 km (6.2 mi), shallow
Epicenter: 40.758° N, 31.161° E
Region: Turkey
Strongest shaking: IX, violent 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
7.2	Mwc, centroid moment	USGS National Earthquake Information Center	Preferred · Reviewed
7.16	Mw, moment	ISC-GEM global catalog	Final · ±0.1
7.1	Mwc, centroid moment	Global CMT project	Preliminary
6.98	Me, energy	Choy, USGS energy magnitude	Reviewed
7.1	Mww, W-phase moment	Duputel, W-phase inversion	Preliminary

Deaths and damage

From NOAA NCEI’s Significant Earthquake Database (record 5543), matched to this event by time and place.

Deaths: 894
Injuries: 4,948
Damage: $1 billion

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.

NOAA’s full record of this earthquake

From Wikipedia

The 1999 Düzce earthquake occurred on 12 November at 18:57:22 local time with a moment magnitude of 7.2 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), causing damage and at least 845 fatalities in Düzce, Turkey. The epicenter was approximately 100 km (62 mi) to the east of the extremely destructive 1999 İzmit earthquake that happened nearly three months earlier. Both strike-slip earthquakes were caused by movement on the North Anatolian Fault.

Text from Wikipedia, “1999 Düzce earthquake”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted as written; the full article has the rest.

The article is about the earthquake NOAA’s record describes, matched to this one by date, place and magnitude.

Wikidata records: 894 deaths, 4,948 injured and $1 billion in damage. These are counts entered by Wikidata’s editors; they may differ from the official count, and this page never adds them to another figure. Q3505096, CC0.

What happened

The USGS’s account of the effects of this earthquake.

At least 894 people killed and 4,948 injured, mostly in the Bolu-Duzce area. Casualties occurred as far as Eskisehir, Yalova and Zonguldak. Extensive damage occurred in the Bolu-Duzce area. Landslides in the Bolu Pass blocked the Ankara-Istanbul highway. Felt as far as Ankara, Istanbul and Izmir. Also felt (III) at Chisinau, Moldova and (III) at Sevastopol and Simferopol, Ukraine.

From the USGS event page for usp0009hev. 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: IX, violent shaking
Peak ground acceleration: 70.7% of gravity
Peak ground velocity: 4.5 cm/s
Map: Automatic

USGS ShakeMap: estimated shaking intensity around the epicenter — Estimated shaking intensity. Map: USGS ShakeMap.

Did you feel it?

No one has reported feeling this quake to the USGS.

Fault motion and ground failure

How the rock slipped, from the moment tensor, and the USGS estimate of landslides and liquefaction.

Faulting: Strike-slip
Moment magnitude: 7.1 Mww
Nodal plane 1: Strike 266°, dip 73°, rake 204°
Nodal plane 2: Strike 168°, dip 66°, rake -18°
Landslide alert: Orange
Liquefaction alert: Orange

How well it is located

Reviewed by a seismologist.

Depth from: OPERATOR_ASSIGNED

Nearest places

Distance and direction from each place to the epicenter, with its forecast.

Nearby

Within 100 km, magnitude 4.2 and up: 26 in the 60 days after this one and 3 in the 30 days before it.

After

Before

Earthquakes today Turkey earthquakes Live radar here

Sources

From the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program and its partner networks, event usp0009hev (also filed as choy19991112165719, gcmtc111299d, gcmt19991112165719, duputel111299d, atlas19991112165719, iscgem1650092). Read Sat, Oct 3, 2026, 3:36 AM UTC.