Near East earthquakes of 1759
 Oct 30
Nov 25
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| Date | 1759 |
|---|---|
| Duration | Oct 30, ~ 1 minute Nov 25, ~ 2 minutes |
| Magnitude | Oct 30, 6.6 Ms Nov 25, 7.4 Ms |
| Epicenter | Oct 30, 33°06′N 35°36′E / 33.1°N 35.6°ECoordinates: 33°06′N 35°36′E / 33.1°N 35.6°E Nov 25, 33°42′N 35°54′E / 33.7°N 35.9°E |
| Areas affected | Ottoman Syria |
| Aftershocks | 3 months |
| Casualties | 2000 – 20,000 |
The Near East earthquakes of 1759 was a series of devastating earthquakes that shook a large portion of the Levant in October and November of that year. This geographical crossroads in the Eastern Mediterranean includes portions of Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, and Israel. The ruins of Baalbek, a settlement in the Beqaa Valley of Lebanon east of the Litani River, were badly damaged. These events, along with the earlier 1202 Syria earthquake, are likely the strongest historical earthquakes in the region.
The Levant fault zone is a 1,000 km (620 mi) long transform fault that runs from the northern end of the Red Sea along the Jordan Rift Valley to the Taurus Mountains complex in southern Turkey. The left-lateral fault zone marks the boundary of the Arabian Plate and the Sinai-Levantine block and has produced pull-apart basins that form the Dead Sea and the Sea of Galilee. The Levant fault system consists of multiple parallel faults with the dominant features being the Yammouneh and Rachaiya faults. The fault strand that produced these earthquakes is not precisely known and has been the source of much debate, but the Yammouneh fault has usually been cited as the source for the 1202 and 1759 events.
The sequence of events in 1759 began on October 30, with the smaller of the two severe main shocks that year, causing the deaths of 2000 people in Safed and other settlements. This initial event was estimated at 6.6 on the surface wave magnitude scale and given a rating of VIII (Severe) to IX (Violent) on the Mercalli intensity scale. This was followed by a more significant earthquake (7.4 and IX) on November 25 that destroyed all the villages in the Beqaa Valley. The areas that experienced damage were roughly the same for both the thirteenth and eighteenth-century earthquakes, with the cities of Nablus, Acre, Tyre, Tripoli and Hama being affected. The village of Ras Baalbek and the city of Damascus were both damaged and the shock was felt as far as Egypt.
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