The 1927 Jericho earthquake was a devastating event that shook

Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine was a British Empire, British geopolitical entity that existed between 1920 and 1948 in the Palestine (region), region of Palestine, and after 1922, under the terms of the League of Nations's Mandate for Palestine. After ...

and Transjordan on July 11 at . The epicenter of the earthquake was in the northern area of the

Dead Sea The Dead Sea (; or ; ), also known by #Names, other names, is a landlocked salt lake bordered by Jordan to the east, the Israeli-occupied West Bank to the west and Israel to the southwest. It lies in the endorheic basin of the Jordan Rift Valle ...

. The cities of

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

Jericho Jericho ( ; , ) is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, and the capital of the Jericho Governorate. Jericho is located in the Jordan Valley, with the Jordan River to the east and Jerusalem to the west. It had a population of 20,907 in 2017. F ...

Ramla Ramla (), also known as Ramle (, ), is a city in the Central District of Israel. Ramle is one of Israel's mixed cities, with significant numbers of both Jews and Arabs. The city was founded in the early 8th century CE by the Umayyad caliph S ...

Tiberias Tiberias ( ; , ; ) is a city on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel. A major Jewish center during Late Antiquity, it has been considered since the 16th century one of Judaism's Four Holy Cities, along with Jerusalem, Heb ...

, and

Nablus Nablus ( ; , ) is a State of Palestine, Palestinian city in the West Bank, located approximately north of Jerusalem, with a population of 156,906. Located between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, it is the capital of the Nablus Governorate and a ...

were heavily damaged, and between 287 and 400 people were estimated to have been killed.

Earthquake

Vered and Striem (1977) located the earthquake epicenter to be near the Damya Bridge in the Jordan Valley, and close to the city of Jericho. Later research by Avni (1999), located the epicenter to be around 50 km south of this location near the Dead Sea.

Effects

Mandatory Palestine

Jerusalem

The death toll in Jerusalem included more than 130 people and around 450 were injured. About 300 houses collapsed or were severely damaged to the point of not being usable. The earthquake also caused heavy damage to the domes of the

Church of the Holy Sepulchre The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, also known as the Church of the Resurrection, is a fourth-century church in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, Old City of Jerusalem. The church is the seat of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchat ...

and the

al-Aqsa Mosque The Aqsa Mosque, also known as the Qibli Mosque or Qibli Chapel is the main congregational mosque or Musalla, prayer hall in the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in the Old City (Jerusalem), Old City of Jerusalem. In some sources the building is also n ...

The rest of the country

The earthquake was especially severe in Nablus where it destroyed around 300 buildings, including the Mosque of Victory and the historic parts of the Great Mosque of Nablus. The death toll in Nablus included more than 150 people and around 250 were injured. In Jericho, a number of houses collapsed, including several relatively new hotels. In one of the hotels, three female tourists from

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were killed.

and Tiberias were also heavily damaged.

Emirate of Transjordan

The most affected city in Transjordan was

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in which 80 people were killed. In the rest of Transjordan another 20 people were killed. File:1927 Earthqua JQ2.jpg, Destruction in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem File:1927 Earthquake OliveMount.jpg, This is the Russian Monastery of Ascension on the

Mount of Olives The Mount of Olives or Mount Olivet (; ; both lit. 'Mount of Olives'; in Arabic also , , 'the Mountain') is a mountain ridge in East Jerusalem, east of and adjacent to Old City of Jerusalem, Jerusalem's Old City. It is named for the olive, olive ...

in which three people were killed. On the iron gate on the left, we can read ('Russian Ecclesiastical Mission') File:1927 Earthquake Jericho.jpg, The destroyed Winter Palace Hotel in

References

Sources * * *

External links

Jerusalem Hit By Earth Jars
– published in the '' Prescott Evening Courier'' on July 11, 1927
104 Quake Toll In Holy Land
– published in the ''

Youngstown Vindicator ''The Vindicator'' is a daily newspaper serving Youngstown, Ohio, United States and the Mahoning County region as well as southern Trumbull County and northern Columbiana County. ''The Vindicator'' was established in 1869. As of September 1, ...

'' on July 12, 1927
300 reported Toll of Quake
– published in the ''

Milwaukee Journal The ''Milwaukee Journal Sentinel'' is a daily morning broadsheet printed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where it is the primary newspaper and also the largest newspaper in the state of Wisconsin, where it is widely read. It was purchased by the G ...

'' on July 12, 1927
Quake Reports From Palestine Yet Fragmentary
– published in Newspapers on July 14, 1927 * {{DEFAULTSORT:1927 Jericho earthquake Earthquakes in the Levant Earthquakes in Israel Earthquakes in Palestine Jericho earthquake, 1927 1927 in Mandatory Palestine 1927 in Transjordan July 1927 in Asia 1927 disasters in Asia History of Jericho