January 18, 2023 Earthquake: Azarbaijan, Iran
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck Azarbaijan, Iran on January 18, 2023 at 10:08:14 UTC, 19 km below the surface.
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 18, 2023
- Time
- 10:08:14 UTC
- Place
- Azarbaijan, Iran
- Magnitude
- 5.7 (Mw)
- Focal depth
- 19 km (12 mi)
- Tsunami
- None recorded
- Epicenter
- 38.433° N, 44.946° E
- Country
- Iran
- Region
- Middle East
- USGS record
- The USGS’s page for this earthquake
The toll
- Injuries
- 252
- Damage
- $50 million
- Houses destroyed
- 370
- Houses damaged
- 3,600
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 happened
The USGS’s account of the effects of this earthquake.
At least 252 people injured, 370 homes destroyed and 3,600 damaged in the Khowy area.
From the USGS event page for us7000j56z. U.S. Geological Survey text and figures are in the public domain.
Magnitude estimates
The magnitudes the USGS catalog lists for this earthquake, by scale and by who computed them. NCEI’s own scales are in the table above.
| Mag. | Scale | Computed by | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5.7 | Mww, W-phase moment | USGS National Earthquake Information Center | Preferred · Reviewed · ±0.069 · 20 stations |
| 5.6 | Mwr, regional moment | USGS National Earthquake Information Center | Moment tensor · Reviewed |
| 5.8 | Mww, W-phase moment | USGS, automatic first solution | First automatic solution · Confirmed |
What the record says
NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.
Sources NCEI cites
The publications NCEI lists for this record. The numbers match the “reference #” notes in its account above.
- #13456 U.S. Geological Survey (2017 to present). Earthquake Hazards Program, Advanced National Seismic System (ANSS) Comprehensive Catalog of Earthquake Events and Products.
- #1250 Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) and the U.S. Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) (2001). EM-DAT: The OFDA/CRED International Disaster Database, Universite Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium, link
Other significant earthquakes nearby
Within 200 km, the deadliest first.
- December 24, 893, Ardabil, Dvin, Iran, Armenia
- November 18, 1727, Tabriz, Iran
- January 8, 1780, Tabriz, Iran
- November 4, 1042, Tabriz, Iran
- August 21, 1042, Tabriz, Iran
- April 26, 1721, Tabriz, Iran
- February 5, 1641, Tabriz, Kurdistan, Iran
- 851, Dvin, Armenia
- January 858, Dvina, Turkey, Armenia
- December 27, 1779, Tabriz, Iran
- June 4, 1679, Dvina, Turkey, Armenia
- November 24, 1976, Muradiye, Turkey
- April 27, 1931, Zangezur, Nakhitchevan, Armenia
- May 6, 1930, Salmas, Iran
- March 31, 1648, Van, Turkey
More
Significant earthquakes of 2023The 2000sEvery quake the USGS located in 2023Recent 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 2026-10-01. NCEI earthquake 10729. The written accounts and the magnitude estimates are from the USGS earthquake catalog, event us7000j56z, matched to this record by time, place and magnitude.