October 5, 1948 Earthquake: Ashkhabad, Turkmenistan

1948 Oct 5, 20:12:07 UTC. 37.95N, 58.32E, depth 18 km, 7.3 MS, intensity IX-X.

"...The Ashkhabad earthquake of 1948 was one of the major seismic events of recent years.... Buildings made of raw brick were destroyed, and almost all collapsed. There was also major damage to the ferro-concrete support framework of the buildings. In the area of Ashkhabad, horizontal deformations in the ground appeared in the form of fissures and gaps... Their width was measured as 1 or several centimeters... In the northern end of Komsomol Street...the width of the cracks reached 0.1 m. Water pipes ruptured in this area.

Tens of thousands of people were killed and injured in this earthquake. All the private and public buildings in many of the villages around the city were destroyed, and most of them collapsed. The intensity of the earthquake in the villages of Kara-Tokmak, Kuru-Gaudan, Annau, Kurtli, and others is estimated not less than 9.

In Kuru-Gaudan, 25 km southeast of Ashkhabad, ..."more than 10 new springs appeared. ... The water level in the wells increased 2 m. A spring to the west of the village quintupled its output.... In the eastern part of the village the water pipes burst; pipes swelled in several places owing to the compression of the ground... Displacements of 90 cm in depth occurred on the tops of hills, on watersheds, and on the peak areas of slopes. Fissures measured up to 60 cm in width". "The fissures extended hundreds of meters in length."

Ye. M. Butovskaya writes about the destruction in Kuru-Gaudan: "The rupture and thrust of one part of a pipeline onto another over a length of 3 m were not uncommon. Waterlines swelled to a height of 1 m; roofs here flung farm cattle sheds to a distance of several meters in a northeast-southwest direction; ... monolith brick columns were sheared in 70 x 80 cm sections."

Many reports describe the falling of heavy commodity trains, which were thrown from the railroad tracks in the Ashkhabad region and the Annau station, and some give a detailed engineering analysis of the falling of monuments and brick columns, and the tilting of a large iron-concrete elevator.

Sump volcanoes formed 4-5 km north-northwest of Ashkhabad and in the Kuru-Gaudan region.

Surface fissures also formed in the opposite direction of Kuru-Gaudan, 27 km northwest of Ashkhabad. Therefore the surface of the rupture, partially seen on the surface extended no less than 70 km.

Much destruction occurred in the region of the Iranian cities of Deregez, Khakester, and Kelat. More than 30 villages in this region were reduced to piles of debris under which many people lost their lives. There was a multitude of surface fissures of diverse direction and width. The force of the earthquake at its epicenter is rated at intensity 9-10.

(above ref #223)

1948 Oct 5, 20:12:09.31 UTC. 38.084N, 58.364E, 7.15 MW. (ref #10476)

1948 Oct 5, 20:12:05 UTC. 37.5N, 58E, shallow depth, 7.3 MS. (ref #88)

1948 Oct 5, 20;12:05 UTC. 37.5N, 58E, 7.3 MS. (ref #130 and 1092)

1948 Oct 5, 20:12 UTC. 37.9N, 58.6E, 7.2 MS. Ashkhabad, 19,800 deaths. (ref #1138)

1948 Oct 5, 20:12 UTC. 7.2 MS, Ashkhabad, 10,000 deaths. (ref #3937)

1948 Oct 5. Ashkhabad, 19,800 deaths. (ref #1051)

1948 Oct 5. 110,000 deaths, $25 million damage. (ref #1250)

1948 Oct 5. 176,000 deaths in USSR, 352 in Iran. (ref #12864)

1948 Oct 5. Extreme damage in Ashgabat (Ashkhabad) and nearby villages, where almost all brick buildings collapsed, concrete structures were heavily damaged and freight trains were derailed. Damage and casualties also occurred in the Darreh Gaz area, Iran. Surface rupture was observed both northwest and southeast of Ashgabat. Many sources list the casualty total at 10,000, but a news release on 9 Dec 1988 advised that the correct death toll was 110,000. (ref #10015)