1840day.year
A Ms 7.4 earthquake strikes present-day Turkey and Armenia; combined with the effects of an eruption on Mount Ararat, kills 10,000 people.
A devastating magnitude 7.4 earthquake strikes near Mount Ararat, claiming around 10,000 lives.
At dawn on July 2, 1840, a powerful earthquake measuring approximately 7.4 on the Richter scale struck the region straddling present-day eastern Turkey and Armenia.
The seismic event, intensified by a volcanic eruption on the slopes of Mount Ararat, reduced entire villages to rubble.
Collapsed buildings, landslides, and aftershocks caused widespread destruction across the Erzurum and Kars provinces.
Contemporary accounts report close to 10,000 fatalities, making it one of the deadliest natural disasters of the 19th century in the Ottoman Empire.
Relief efforts were hampered by the remote terrain and the limited infrastructure of the era.
The tragedy prompted early seismic research and influenced later approaches to earthquake preparedness in the region.
1840
7.4 earthquake
Mount Ararat