January 4, 1935 Earthquake: Turkey
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck Turkey on January 4, 1935 at 14:41:30 UTC, 7 km below the surface. It killed 5 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
- January 4, 1935
- Time
- 14:41:30 UTC
- Place
- Turkey
- Magnitude
- 6.4 (Mw)
- Focal depth
- 7 km (4 mi)
- Intensity
- 10 on the Modified Mercalli scale
- Tsunami
- Yes: the tsunami it caused
- Epicenter
- 40.620° N, 27.451° E
- Country
- Turkey
The toll
- Deaths
- 5
- Injuries
- 30
- Damage
- Severe (about $5 to $25 million)
- Houses destroyed
- Very many (over 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.
1935 Jan 04. In total, 922 houses were destroyed, along with 128 houses in the village of Turkeli on Avsa Island (Afisia), the whole villages of Asmalı and Yigitler (Azaplar or Araplar), 100 houses in Gundogdu, and 30 houses in Ekinlik (or Kutali) Island (Aksam, 9 January 1935; Kurun, 11 January 1935). As the earthquake took place during the day, there were not many human casualties except 5 dead and 30 people wounded. The largest aftershocks occurred within 2 h at 15:18:57 (Ms=4.6), 15:19:24 (Ms=4.5) and 16:20:05 (Ms=6.3) and continued until 7 March 1935 (Ayhan et al., 2000). (reference #10331)
1935 Jan 04, 14:41:30.81 UTC, 40.62 N 27.451 E, magnitude 6.37 Mw. (reference #10476)
Other significant earthquakes nearby
Within 200 km, the deadliest first.
- May 25, 1719, Turkey
- September 10, 1509, Istanbul, Turkey
- May 22, 1766, Turkey
- August 9, 1912, Marmara Sea, Turkey
- February 28, 1855, Tayabas, Bursa, Turkey
- September 2, 1754, Izmit, Turkey
- July 10, 1894, Turkey
- April 29, 1855, Bursa, Turkey
- March 18, 1953, Yenice, Onon, Turkey
- October 11, 367, Iznik,nicaea, Turkey
- March 7, 1867, Izmir, Mitilini, Turkey, Greece
- August 6, 1384, Lesbos, Greece
- April 11, 1855, Bursa, Turkey
- September 21, 1939, Turkey
- 1577, Balikesir, Turkey
More
Significant earthquakes of 1935The 1900sEvery quake the USGS located in 1935Recent earthquakes near hereThis 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 3540.