Earthquake overview : The already so hard hit Van Ercis area was hit by another earthquake – Aftershock in the evening of November 9 2011. Additional damage and injuries are almost a certainty
"I have Felt it" Reports –> see below + Let us know "how you have felt this earthquake"
To read the full story as it happened, we advise our readers to start at the lower part of the page (earthquake data).

Keep this page open or return regularly as we will be back with more details when they become available

Update 13/11 – 09:49 UTC :
As could be expected after the collapsed hotels, the death toll has further increased to 40. The main reason being the rescue workers gradually digging in the rubble and finding new corpses. Let us all hope that this will end soon.

Update 11/11 – 22:45 UTC :
Unfortunately, the death toll has risen to 25. So far, 30 people have been rescued from under the rubble.
The last body found was that of Cem Emir, a DHA news correspondent.

815 search and rescue personnel (127 of them from non-governmental organizations), 71 UMKE medical personnel, 14 search dogs, 62 construction machinery and vehicle, 6457 tents (1731 of them is from abroad), 2051 general purpose tents, 200 tent canvas, 98 breakfast set, 45407 blankets and 600 beds were sent to the region.

Over 300 people have been transferred out of Van, to provide extra hospital services for the victims of this aftershock.

More updates will be made as further information comes to hand. As said before, it is expected that the death toll will rise.

Startling news from on the ground in Van :- "OCHA is contacted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for a second call for international assistance. The Ministry have made this appeal in the light of the fact that 600,000 people refuse to go back to their homes and prefer to stay outside after the earthquakes occurred on November 9, 2011."

From the 23rd October mainshock, the death toll remains at 604 from sources.

Update 11/11 – 16:05 UTC :
We regret to tell that the death toll has risen to 22

Update 11/11 – 12:00 UTC :
We are very sorry to tell you that the number of fatalities has increased to 19.

Update 11/11 – 12:00 UTC :
The video below shows the shaking the people have experienced. Almost every camera shows at the end a strong dust. Also watch the people running to the middle of the street when the shaking starts. Due to the proximity of the epicenter, P and S wave can hardly be seen.  This is typical for shallow earthquakes close to the epicenter. Also watch on the "immediate power outage" (hard to find your way in the dark and the dust) + the many  short circuits.
iPhone applications or alerting systems working on P waves have almost NO efficiency in this kind of quakes. In other words, except for tsunamis most of the alerting systems will have only a limited viability.

[youtube Ezd5kIj0u5Q]

Update 10/11 – 16:05 UTC :
We regret to tell that the death toll has risen to 10

Update 10/11 – 16:00 UTC :
We are always happy that we can show videos from rescued people, here from a person buried below the rubble of the Asian Budget hotel.

[youtube 5z4fjs4rv54]

Update 10/11 – 15:40 UTC :
Early Thursday, the dead body of a Japanese aid worker, Atsushi Miyazaki, was pulled out the rubble of the Bayram Hotel in Van, Turkey. His friend, another member of Japan's Association for Aid and Relief, could be rescued by SAR workers

Update 10/11 – 15:35 UTC :
Angry residents protested Thursday that authorities should have closed the 2 collapsed hotels. Both hotels were damaged by the October 23 earthquake. Police used pepper spray to halt the protests.

Update 10/11 – 08:49 UTC :
Various reports in Turkish newspapers are talking about people still being buried under the debris of the hotels. The official AFAD death toll remains at 7, but we expect that it will increase slightly the following hours.

Update 10/11 – 05:00 UTC :
In Edremit, 100 people have been injured. This town was right by the epicenter.

Update 10/11 – 04:45 UTC :
KOERI has said that they expect around 80 deaths. However, given the fact that only 4 buildings were inhabited at the time of collapse, it is hoped that this is not true.

Update 10/11 – 04:40 UTC : Contrary to early opinions, only 36 people are expected to have been in the Bayram Hotel at the time of collapse. (From the 2 hotels that collapsed, 23 have been rescued, 7 found dead).

A major decision by the Ministry of Education. They have announced that schools in Van will not be opened until after the earthquake of December 5, 2011 (delayed from November 14, 2011).

Update 10/11 – 04:35 UTC :
If we focus on the Bayram Hotel picture for a moment, it can be seen that the structure has a weak first floor (higher than the rest of the building) which could indicate what is called a "soft storey collapse", where the first floor collapses and then the rest of the building following it.

Update 10/11 – 04:30 UTC :
According to reports, 7 people have been found dead so far, with 22 people recovered alive.
Some good news was that 22 of the 25 buildings that collapsed were unoccupied at the time.
The Aslan Otel (or Lion Hotel) also collapsed.

Update 10/11 – 00:45 UTC :  The SAR (Search and Rescue) operations are continuing. We will have to wait a couple of hours until daylight to get more information from the epicenter area.

Update :  This earthquake has killed at least three people and collapsed 21 buildings including a hotel in eastern Turkey. More people are believed to have been trapped under the rubble. SAR (Search and Rescue) teams are trying to find possible survivors.

Update :  Nine planes carrying almost 300 additional rescue personnel have been dispatched to the quake region.

Update :   Koeri puts the epicenter right on the town of Edremit. It is unclear what effects the earthquake has had there in this town on the outskirts of Van located on Lake Van.

Update :  Conflicting reports that the hotel was actually 6 storeys high – this proved later to be the Lion Hotel which also collapsed. More will be known also when light breaks on Van, but this will disrupt the earthquake operations significantly in the area. Reports of gas leaks and electricity outages have also come to fruition.  (ER – the picture we found on the Internet shows 5 storeys)

Update :  Turkish Red Crescent has sent 15000 tents to the region. Obviously to help with residents who will be afraid to return to houses, and those houses that have moved from slightly damaged to severely damaged.

Update :  The name of the hotel is the  Bayram Oteli on the following street: Mareşal Fevzi Çakmak Caddesi and 11 people have been rescued so far from the rubble.

Update :  Around 150-200 people were in the hotel at the time of collapse, typically unfortunately the death toll from a masonry structure (if reports are correct) are typically around 25-30% of that, which could mean that around 60 people could be killed. However, since search and rescue staff are already in Van, hopefully many more trapped people can be rescued than is usually the case.

Update :  All our written reports on the Van Ercis earthquake can be found here.

Update :  Yesterday, another M 5.7 aftershock struck the area. See additional comment  here

Update :  The USGS Pager theoretocal human impact model gives  1-10 fatalities, and 10-100 million dollars damage, however it is not setup for aftershocks and the damage expected

Update :  The earthquake occurred South of Van, meaning that the possibility for a large earthquake right by Van is also there

Update :  A lot of Buildings were mud-brick, and one of the hotels destroyed had 5 storeys.

Update :  The number of dead and injured is at present unknown, but quite a few expected from the hotel

Update :  20 houses destroyed so far. This is a very large aftershock, and will nearly cause ground motions in Van greater than the first event given the epicenter if correct.

Update : First reports are telling us that many people have been trapped under the hotel wreckage

Update : Following the theoretical models of USGS 1000 people will have experienced a severe MMI VIII shaking. 15,000 people a every strong shaking and 343,000 people a VI strong shaking. 454,000 people a moderate shaking.

Update : The epicenter is just next to the Van lake, exactly the location of the small lake town of Edremit.

Update : In addition to the earlier 18 collapsed houses we are sorry to tell that also 2 hotels and a school have collapsed.

Update : This aftershock is one of the many powerful shocks which started after the cruel Van Ercis earthquake which occurred in the morning of October 23 and which left more than 600 people killed.

Update :  According to KOERI, the Turkish seismological agency, the earthquake had a magnitude of 5.6 at a depth of 5 km.

Update :  The main reason why this aftershock is damaging is the already damaged houses and the extremely shallow depth

Update : 18 houses collapsed as a result of this cruel aftershock

The epicenter was almost below Edremit, a city with 2000 people. It is an extremely old town which predates the Christian Era. In the 10th century Edremit was known as a feudal city with a population of 12000.

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"I Have Felt It" reports as received by Earthquake-Report.com
- No Felt reports as yet, be the first to send us what you experienced.

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Most important Earthquake Data:
Magnitude : 5.7
UTC Time :  Wednesday, November 09, 2011 at 19:23:35 UTC
Local time at epicenter :  Wednesday, November 09, 2011 at 09:23:35 PM at epicenter
Depth (Hypocenter) : 4.8 km
Geo-location(s) :
16 km (9 miles) S of Van, Turkey
91 km (56 miles) NNW of Hakkari, Turkey
123 km (76 miles) NE of Sirnak, Turkey

Links to important maps
USGS Did You Feel It Map
Google satellite map showing the epicenter and the surrounding area.
Historic earthquakes map
Seismic hazard map
Shaking map
Focal mechanism report
Human impact map

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I did feel it – Ik heb het gevoeld – Το έκανα αισθάνεται –Yo lo he sentido – 我的确感到了 – 私はそれを感じていました- Ich habe es gefühlt – Bunu hissediyorum yaptı – لم أشعر أنه