December 29, 1408 Earthquake: Tripolis, Aleppo, Lebanon, Antioch, Syria, Turkey

Name: December 29, 1408 Earthquake: Tripolis, Aleppo, Lebanon, Antioch, Syria, Turkey
Start: 1408-12-29
Location: Tripolis, Aleppo, Lebanon, Antioch, Syria, Turkey

December 29, 1408 · M7.4 · Deaths: many

A magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck Tripolis, Aleppo, Lebanon, Antioch, Syria, Turkey on December 29, 1408. It caused a tsunami.

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: December 29, 1408
Place: Tripolis, Aleppo, Lebanon, Antioch, Syria, Turkey
Magnitude: 7.4 (Ms)
Intensity: 10 on the Modified Mercalli scale
Tsunami: Yes: the tsunami it caused
Epicenter: 36.200° N, 36.100° E
Country: Turkey

The toll

Deaths: Many (about 101 to 1,000)
Damage: Severe (about $5 to $25 million)

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.

1408, intensity X. Antioch [Turkey]: Heavy destruction, ice fell off the top of Jebel and Aqra. Aleppo [Syria]: Heavy destruction, fissure 1 mile long in the neighborhood (between al Qucir and saltahum). Latakia [Syria]: Sea wave. Tripolis [Lebanon]. (reference #1222)

December 20, 1408-January 17, 1409 (AH 811 Sha'ban): Near Aleppo and Tripolis many lives were lost by an earthquake. (reference #1098)

1408 Dec 29, Shugr-Bekas. Although the exact location of the 1408 fault break cannot be identified today, the available evidence suggests that surface faulting extended for a distance of at least 20 km from Qusair, either southwest in the direction of the coast, or south along one or more of the strands of the Dead Sea fault system which run discontinuously along the west flank of the Orontes river towards Jisr alShughr (reference #9116)

29 December 1408: 30 December 1408 (reference #9275)

29 December 1408, Western Syria and Cyprus island. (reference #10420)

Other significant earthquakes nearby

Within 200 km, the deadliest first.

Significant earthquakes of 1408 The 1400s Recent earthquakes near here This day in weather history

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 585.