The 995 Balu earthquake took place in 995 or 996. It reportedly affected the Armenian areas of Balu, Cop'k (or Covk'), Palnatun (or Palin), and the districts of Hasteank and Xorjean.Guidoboni, Traina, 1995, p. 126-127 The areas affected were districts in what is currently the border area between

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

and

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. The primary source for the event is the historian

Stepanos Asoghik Stepanos Asoghik (), also known as Stepanos Taronetsi (), was an Armenian historian of the centuries. The dates of his birth and death are unknown. His name indicates that he came from the region of Taron and earned the nickname , meaning eithe ...

(10th-11th century) who dates the event to year 444 of the

Armenian calendar The Armenian calendar is the calendar traditionally used in Armenia, primarily during the medieval ages. Since 1918, the civil calendar in Armenia is the Gregorian calendar. The Armenian calendar was based on an invariant year length of 365 days. ...

. This would place the event between 23 March, 995 (at the earliest) to 24 March, 996 (at the latest). According to Asoghik, all the buildings in the affected areas collapsed at the same time. The same earthquake is described by the historian

Ibn Taghribirdi Jamal al-Din Yusuf bin al-Amir Sayf al-Din Taghribirdi (), or Abū al-Maḥāsin Yūsuf ibn Taghrī-Birdī, or Ibn Taghribirdi (2 February 1411— 5 June 1470; 813–874 Islamic calendar, Hijri) was an Islamic historian born in the 15th century i ...

(15th century), who dates the event to

Hijri year The Hijri year () or era () is the era used in the Islamic lunar calendar. It begins its count from the Islamic New Year in which Muhammad and his followers migrated from Mecca to Yathrib (now Medina) in 622 CE. This event, known as the Hij ...

385. This would place the event between 4 February 995 (at the earliest) and 21 January 996 (at the latest). According to his description, strong earthquakes caused "the world to shake", and many people died in the ruins. Balu was later known as Palu, Elazığ, and still exists. Palnatun perhaps corresponds to Palin. The districts of Cop'k, Xorjean, and Xasteang bordered each other. Their location was the area between the modern towns of

Erzincan Erzincan (; ), historically Yerznka (), is the capital of Erzincan Province in eastern Turkey. Nearby cities include Erzurum, Sivas, Tunceli, Bingöl, Elazığ, Malatya, Gümüşhane, Bayburt, and Giresun. The city is majority Turkish Sunni w ...

and

Diyarbakır Diyarbakır is the largest Kurdish-majority city in Turkey. It is the administrative center of Diyarbakır Province. Situated around a high plateau by the banks of the Tigris river on which stands the historic Diyarbakır Fortress, it is ...

References

Sources

* 995 10th-century earthquakes 10th century in Armenia History of Elazığ Province {{Asia-earthquake-stub