Historical Seismograms - Evidence from the AD 2000 Izu Islands ...

176 N. N. Ambraseys and C. F. FinkelHowever, with the exception of a village between Beypazari and Ayas which wasall but wiped out, damage was not so great here or in Bursa as in their adjacentdistricts to the north, where destruction was almost complete. The town of Bolu wasalmost totally destroyed, with 1,800 people losing their lives, among this numberbeing about 60 Christian merchants. The effect of the earthquake was very severe tothe east in Hacihamza, most of which was razed to the ground, with only a small fortremaining standing. In Amasya and its neighboring villages the earthquake causedgreat destruction: the ground was “cleaved”, an allusion to faulting. The walls ofthe castle, stone dwellings, and religious and commercial buildings, including manyparts of the bedesten (central secure part of bazaar), were demolished with muchloss of life. The mosque and medrese (theological school) in the Kuba district of thetown were ruined. The Sultan Bayazid mosque, completed in 1486, sustained severedamage, with an arch and the domes collapsing. One of its minarets was sheared offand rotated, while part of the other fell. The mosque and mescid (small mosque)of Emir ’Imaduddin Sulu Bey were totally destroyed, as well as the gate of theSquare, and the domes of many other mosques in the town. Continuing shocks keptthe survivors camping in the open for many days. In the region of Amasya, at Zara,and at Kochisar, much of the destruction was brought about by large scale grounddeformations, the description of which implies extensive faulting (Theatrum, 1668;Dressdnische, 1756; Stepanian, 1942; Katip Celebi, 1734; Husameddin, 1910).The town of Tokat was badly damaged, the town walls and the castle being demolished.Many mosques in the town, including those of Bahadir and Avlik(?), andmany other public buildings, with the exception of the Armenian church, collapsed.Houses were destroyed in the town and in 30 settlements in the Tokat district, butcasualties were not excessive here. Tremors recurred here for many weeks, causingthe people to abandon their homes for open country. Merzifon, Hisarcik (mod.Asarcik) and Koyulhisar were also ruined, and in the latter places caravanserais collapsed.There were reports of 6,000 deaths, among which were some 50 Persian andAnatolian merchants (State Papers; Hakobyan, 1951; Stepanian, 1942; Theatrum,1668; Dressdnische, 1756).Damage extended to Erzincan, where a number of houses collapsed, and to Kastamonuwhere many buildings were destroyed causing many casualties, althoughthe majority of these were cases of heavy injury. Other towns which we could notidentify (see Appendix 2) were laid waste, such as Coujam, Listrien, Derben, andsites along the Black Sea coast. Between Stammas and Marannoy a stable of horsesand mules collapsed. To the south, most probably near the Armenian monastery ofNishan, in the region of Sivas, a town and several villages were engulfed (Hakobyan,1951; Theatrum, 1668; Dressdnische, 1756).The earthquake was strong enough to be felt in Izmir, Istanbul, and possiblyin Alexandria, but it is not mentioned in the accounts of Europeans who were inThrace, Larissa and Jerusalem at the time. By late August there had been morethan 200 shocks felt in Ankara in the preceding 37 days, while foreshocks andaftershocks lasted for a total of 47 days in that town, and for 15 days at Beypazari,until they ceased being reported after 13 September 1668. In Tokat, aftershockscontinued for six months altogether. After the earthquake it took a year to rebuildsome of the public buildings, such as those in Amasya (al-’Umari, 1796; Colier,1671; Simopoulos, 1976; Troilo, 1676; State Papers; Smith, 1684; Theatrum, 1668;Dressdnische, 1756; Hakobyan, 1951; Husameddin, 1910).