May 5, 1829 Earthquake: Xanthi-Drama, Greece

Reference #1099:

Violent shocks at Thessaloniki (Saloniki), houses, mosques and part of the town ~ walls were thrown down, felt over the coast of Macedonia and Thrace, also at Istanbul and Bucuresti; the little town of Drama was totally destroyed and many of surrounding villages as well as the towns Kavalla and Shai suffered much (MMC, PAP, WS), large changes of the terrain (GGK), Edirne slightly damaged, felt at Istanbul (PL), Z = VII-VI11 in the Struma valley (GGB).

Reference #4408:

The seismic shocks started on 13 (or 11) of April with a very strong foreshock (M=6.9) which occurred at 4 in the aftemoon. The main shock caused damage in Kavala, Pravi (Eleftheroupole), Xanthe and Adrianoupole […] Xanthe was entirely destroyed. In Pravi, 70 houses were pulled down and in the harbor of Kavala several houses collapsed. In a note which was written in Veroea it is mentioned that on 30 March (11 April with the new calendar) a shock so strong occurred (in Veroea) so that the hanging oil lamps of the churches were destroyed because they hit each other. The earthquakes continued every day and on 5 May the mainshock occurred. It shocked the coast of Macedonia and of Thrace and was felt up to Constantinople and Bucurest. The small city Drama was entirely destroyed as well as many villages of the area […] In Thessaloniki, houses, mosques, and part of the walls of the city collapsed and the shocks continue till 10 of May. In Bulgaria, this earthquake (of 5 May) caused great panic and forced the inhabitants to leave the houses and to stay for one weak in the open air. Many houses and many minarets and chimneys collapsed […] In a letter, we received from Metropolite of Xanthe Antonios on 12.5.1979, it is written that in the holy monastery of Panaghia Archageliotisa a note was found where the Father Superior of the monastery Agapios wrote that on 30 of March (11 April) 1829 day Saturday and at 9 and half hour a great earthquake occurred and many houses in Xanthe and in Genitze (Genisea) and in all the plain were fallen.

Reference #9116:

This was a larger earthquake originating from the same region as the earthquake of 11 April. It occurred at 21 h on Tuesday 23 April (O.S.) and it was most violent in the western part of the epicentral area of the earthquake of 11 April, causing additional damage in the coastal plains of Nestos and Komotini. What was left of Xanthi was destroyed, and the nearby monastery of Taxiarches as well as the cells of the monastery of Kalamous were ruined. Also the church and the monastery of Archangeliotis, which had been damaged by the first shock, collapsed completely (Papazachos and Papazachou 1989, 272). In the plain of Nestos the villages of Titza (Domdia?), Yenisea, Sari S ¸aban and C ¸aylak, among others, were destroyed. The town of Drama, which had already been damaged, was almost totally ruined, and many of the surrounding villages and farms were greatly damaged (BBA CS 3430, PPS 1829, 188 Beilage ). The plain to the south of Drama liquefied extensively (PCS 1829, 4.3, 10, 26). The towns of Kavala and Serres also suffered much, as well as Orfano but details are not known (PCS 1829, 4.3, 10, 26). Also in Thessaloniki, the shock was violent and of long duration (Slade 1833, ii. 447). Some stone-masonry houses were ruined, mosques were damaged, and a part of the sea wall of the town was thrown down (PPS 1829, 188 Beilage ; Bakirdzis 1975, 300). In Veroia ground motions lasted long enough to set suspended lamps in the church swinging and crashing against each other (Maravelakis 1939, 121).

Reference #1198 lists an unknown number of casualties.