The Mw 7.1 Erciş-Van, Turkey Earthquake of October 23, 2011

Led by Ayhan Irfanoglu, Rafael Alaluf, Ricardo Hernandez, and Cemalettin Dönmez.

April 2012, Earthquake Engineering Research Institute.

The report has been prepared by a small team of investigators. The writers benefited from the work of several of their colleagues who visited the disaster area and generously shared information. At 1:41 pm local time on Sunday, October 23rd, 2011, a Mw 7.1 earthquake struck Van Province in eastern Turkey (USGS, 2011). The earthquake claimed 604 lives. The town of Erciş, with a population of 77,000 (GOVP, 2011), was hit hardest. Located about 40 km NNW of the estimated epicenter, it had 191 buildings collapse totally or partially, killing more than 600 people. Van, the larger provincial capital located about 15 km SSW of the estimated epicenter, was mostly spared, with only six buildings collapsed. On November 9th at 9:23 pm local time, a Mw 5.6 earthquake struck about 10 km SW of Van (AFAD, 2011). This event claimed 40 lives and caused further damage in the city of 332,000, including collapse of 25 buildings, most of which had been condemned following the earlier earthquake.