November 1137 Earthquake: Mesopotamia, Mosul, Iraq-Syria

September 19, 1137 - September 7, 1138. An earthquake caused great damage in Syria, Mesopotamia and Iraq. Many persons were buried under the ruins. (reference #1098)

October 1137, Mosul, intensity VIII-IX. (reference #1222)

October 1137, 36.21 N, 48.08 E, Mosul, intensity VIII-IX. (reference #1057)

1137 October 19 - November 16, South-eastern Turkey. In the year 1137, in the month of Safar (19 October - 16 November], there was a strong earthquake in an area covering present-day central and eastern Turkey and northern Iraq, causing massive destruction in many localities not specified in the sources, behveen Diyarbakir (Turkey) and Al-Mawsil (fvlosul, Iraq). The earthquake is recorded by Ibn al-Qalanisi, a contemporary Arab historian (who died in 1160 at Damascus), and by Ibn al-Athir, an Arab historian (1160-1231) who was a native of the area struck by the earthquake (AJ-Mawsil). intensity IX-X (reference #10420)

AD 1137 Nov, N. Mesopotamia. There is evidence for a relatively large earthquake late in 1137, which affected the regions of Mosul and Diyarbakir on the upper reaches of the Tigris. Nothing is known in detail, except that it was felt over a large area […] It was said to have destroyed a number of places, which are not named, and a great number of people perished (Ibn al-Qalanisi 243/263) […] The date for these events is given as Safar 532 a.H. (19 October to 16 November 1137). It is rather strange that Ibn al-Qalanisi, who was in Syria, does not mention the earthquake for Syria that is given by Ibn al-Athir, who may possibly be exaggerating insofar as his earthquakes are all reported with a somewhat monotonous similarity. It is more likely that Ibn al-Athir amalgamated the effects of this earthquake with those of one that happened a year later in northwest Syria. It is worth noting in connection with this that the earthquake in Syria the following year, 533 a.H., was also experienced in Safar. (reference #9116)