January 3, 1344 Earthquake: Membij, Aleppo, Dimashq (Damascus), Syria

Reference #1222

1343, January 1. Damascus, destroyed, 5700 killed, Aleppo fortress destroyed, intensity VIII-IX.

Reference #9116

1344, January 3. This was a damaging earthquake in southeast Anatolia. It occurred on the fourth hour of Saturday, 16 Sha'ban 744 a.H. (3 January 1344); it killed about 5000 people and destroyed towns or heavily damaged a number of towns and castles. Membij was totally destroyed with many casualties, the citadel of al-Rawandan (Revand), (Rumkale) and the castles of Behasna (Besni), Kakhta (Kiahta) and Karkar (Gerger) suffered various degrees of damage. The effects of the earthquake extended as far as Aleppo, where the citadel suffered some damage, and Madjdin (Mardin?).

A contemporary Armenian source adds that the loss of life at Mnoec (Membij) alone was 5000 and that in this earthquake the castle of Prinkes(?) totally collapsed. The location of Prinkes is in doubt; it may be Prakana, on the right bank of Gok Su to the northwest of Silifke (Dedeyan 1980, 64 n. 719).

There was some damage at Aleppo too. When a weaker aftershock occurred some time later, the Aleppians evacuated their city, perhaps fearing further damage, and camped some distance outside.

Further aftershocks may have followed. Because of the damage and continuing aftershocks, Aleppo was evacuated for 'forty' days after the earthquake, which was also felt in Damascus, and poems were composed on the event.

Ibn al-Wardi dates the earthquake to a.H. 744, Sha'aban 16 (3 January 1344), a Saturday, at the fourth hour of the day (10 am). He mentions Mambij and gives an estimate of 5700 deaths. He remarks that 'some people say' that it spread as far as Majdin (Mardin?), due east of Rumkale.

A fourteenth-century Armenian chronicle mentions a violent earthquake in a.Arm. 793 (26 December 1343 to 24 December 1344), which destroyed the castle of Prinkes and Mnpec (Mambij), killing 5000 in the latter (Het. Pat. ii. 88). It is possible that two earthquakes have been syncretised here, since, if the earthquake was destructive at such a distance from Mambij, one would expect Antioch, which is not mentioned in the sources, to have been damaged too.

Al-Suyuti says that this earthquake was felt in Egypt. In fact there is no information about the effects of this earthquake south of Damascus, where the shock was only slight.