The 526 Antioch earthquake in the Imperial…

The 526 Antioch earthquake in the Imperial province of Syria strikes Antioch and surrounding regions in late May, killing approximately two hundred and fifty thousand people.

It has been suggested that the very high number of casualties was a result of there being a large number of visitors in the city from the surrounding countryside, there to celebrate Ascension Day.

In the port of Seleucia Pieria an uplift of 0.7–0.8 m has been estimated, and the subsequent silting up of the harbor leaves it unusable.

The earthquake is followed by a fire that rages for days and destroys most of the buildings left standing by the earthquake.

The maximum intensity in Antioch is estimated to be between VIII (destructive) and IX (violent) on the Mercalli intensity scale.

It is followed by eighteen months of aftershocks.