The 13th-August-1822 Aleppo Earthquake: Implications for the Seismic Hazard Assessment at the Antakia Triple Junction

Abstract

The analysis of historical sources of macroseismic data based on different written languages, original and near contemporary sources for the 13th August 1822 earthquake that hit the Pachalic of Aleppo in northwestern Syria, the region that includes three regional active faults, reveals the following results: (1) the main event which occurred on 13th August 1822, caused heavy destruction with more than 10,000 lost lives in Aleppo city, and numerous towns and villages were destroyed; (2) the St. Simeon fault with 140 km long was suggested to be the causative fault of the event; (3) the earthquake parameters along with peak ground acceleration in the citadel of Aleppo were assessed according to the macroseismic data. The focal mechanism of the earthquake was estimated to be a strike-slip movement on that fault according to field investigations and the historical documents.