January 28, 2023 Earthquake: Khvoy (Khoy), Iran

Name: January 28, 2023 Earthquake: Khvoy (Khoy), Iran
Start: 2023-01-28
Location: Khvoy (Khoy), Iran

January 28, 2023 · M5.9 · 3 deaths · $255 million · 370 houses destroyed

A magnitude 5.9 earthquake struck Khvoy (Khoy), Iran on January 28, 2023 at 18:14:45 UTC, 16 km below the surface. It killed 3 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 28, 2023
Time: 18:14:45 UTC
Place: Khvoy (Khoy), Iran
Magnitude: 5.9 (Mw)
Focal depth: 16 km (10 mi)
Intensity: VIII, severe shaking, on the Modified Mercalli scale
Tsunami: None recorded
Epicenter: 38.424° N, 44.909° E
Country: Iran
Region: Middle East
USGS record: The USGS’s page for this earthquake

The toll

Deaths: 3
Injuries: 1,017
Damage: $255 million
Houses destroyed: 370
Houses damaged: 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 happened

The USGS’s account of the effects of this earthquake.

At least 3 people killed, 1,750 injured, 370 homes destroyed, 16,500 damaged and power outages occurred in the Khowy-Salmas area.

From the USGS event page for us6000jk0t. 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
5.9	Mww, W-phase moment	USGS National Earthquake Information Center	Preferred · Reviewed · ±0.045 · 48 stations
6.0	Mi	NOAA Pacific Tsunami Warning Center	First automatic solution · Reviewed · 16 stations
5.9	Mwb, body-wave moment	USGS National Earthquake Information Center	Moment tensor · Reviewed
5.9	Mww, W-phase moment	USGS, automatic first solution	First automatic solution · Confirmed

What the record says

NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.

According to national authorities, at least three people were killed and 973 people injured. The quake destroyed 370 houses and caused damage in 70 villages. (reference #13437)

Preliminary needs assessments on the 5.9 M earthquake occurred on the night of 28 January in Firouragh district, Khoy county, and followed by 62 aftershocks with the greatest of 4.5 M, report so far 261,387 people affected, 1,017 injured and three died across two cities and 86 villages. 20% to 80% of residential buildings in 70 villages have been destroyed, as reported by the governorate general office of West-Azarbaijan. (reference #13438)

255+ million dollars in economic losses (reference #13724)

255 million dollars in total damages (reference #1250)

3 fatalities, 1750 injured, $250 million in economic losses (reference #13727)

Sources NCEI cites

The publications NCEI lists for this record. The numbers match the “reference #” notes in its account above.

#1053 National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC) (1971 to 2013). Preliminary Determination of Epicenters (PDE), a weekly and monthly publication, National Earthquake Information Center, U.S. Geological Survey, Golden, Colorado, 1971 to 2013.
#13437 United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA-Online (2023). Today's top news: Ukraine, Iran. Published 30 January 2023. Link
#13438 Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC) (2023). ECHO Daily Flash, Iran – Earthquake, update. Published 31 January 2023. Link
#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
#13727 Gallagher Re (2024). Earthquake data (since 2002) including economic losses. Gallagher Re. Provided 31 January 2024.
#13724 Gallagher Re (2024). Natural Catastrophe and Climate Report: 2023, Data, Insights, and Perspective. January 2024

Other significant earthquakes nearby

Within 200 km, the deadliest first.

Significant earthquakes of 2023 The 2000s Every quake the USGS located in 2023 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 2026-10-01. NCEI earthquake 10661. The written accounts and the magnitude estimates are from the USGS earthquake catalog, event us6000jk0t, matched to this record by time, place and magnitude.