1268 Earthquake: Erzincan, Turkey
An earthquake struck Erzincan, Turkey in 1268. It killed 15,000 people.
Map
Where it struck, with the other significant earthquakes within 200 km. Circles are sized and colored by magnitude; select one for its page.
The earthquake
- Date
- 1268
- Place
- Erzincan, Turkey
- Intensity
- 9 on the Modified Mercalli scale
- Tsunami
- None recorded
- Epicenter
- 39.750° N, 39.500° E
- Country
- Turkey
The toll
- Deaths
- 15,000
- Damage
- Severe (about $5 to $25 million)
- Houses destroyed
- Many (101 to 1,000)
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 the record says
NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.
1268. Erzincan. A further earthquake in the region of Erzincan is reported to have killed 15000 people. This event appears only in seventeenth-century AD sources. While caution should be employed in accepting such a late record when there were many active chroniclers in and around thirteenth centruy Erzincan, since Arakel, Amiras, Erzinkets and Grigor give substantially identical accounts, it is reasonable to conclude that they copied an earlier, now lost, source. (reference #9116)
1268. NE Syria, very strong, 15000 deaths. (reference #1222)
1268. Asia Minor, Erzingan. Intensity III which corresponds to an earthquake which destroyed
towns and devastated districts. (reference #1055)
1268. 39.79 N, 40.4 E, Erzincan, intensity IX.
(reference #1071)
Other significant earthquakes nearby
Within 200 km, the deadliest first.
- December 26, 1939, Erzincan, Turkey
- 1458, Erzincan,erzurum, Turkey
- 1482, Erzincan,erzurum, Turkey
- 1158, Antakya, Malatya,dimashq, Lebanon, Turkey, Syria
- June 2, 1859, Erzurum, Turkey
- July 23, 1784, Erzurum,erzincan, Turkey
- August 19, 1966, Varto, Turkey
- September 6, 1975, Lice, Turkey
- May 22, 1971, Bingol, Turkey
- May 31, 1946, Ustukran, Turkey
- March 13, 1992, Erzincan, Turkey
- December 5, 1943, NE, Anatolia, Turkey
- March 31, 1893, Malatya, Turkey
- August 17, 1949, Karliova, Turkey
- May 1, 2003, Bingol, Turkey
More
Significant earthquakes of 1268The 1200sRecent earthquakes near here
Sources
Significant earthquakes from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, Global Historical Hazard Database, cited as NCEI/WDS, doi:10.7289/V5PN93H7. Public domain. Read 2026-09-24. NCEI earthquake 465.