1956 Chim earthquake

1956 Chim earthquake

Date	March 16, 1956
Magnitude	4.8 Ms & 5.1 Ms
Epicenter	33°30′N 35°30′E / 33.5°N 35.5°E / 33.5; 35.5Coordinates: 33°30′N 35°30′E / 33.5°N 35.5°E / 33.5; 35.5
Areas affected	Lebanon
Casualties	136

The 1956 Chim earthquake was a destructive multiple-shock event that occurred on March 16 in Lebanon along a strand of the Dead Sea Transform (DST) fault system.^[1] The epicenter was located in the south of Lebanon in the Chouf District. Six thousand homes were destroyed and another 17,000 were damaged. The number of persons killed was 136.^[2]

The twin shocks were separated by less than fifteen minutes with the first event occurring at 19:32 and the second event at 19:43 hours.^[2] The initial shock was estimated to measure (M_s = 4.8) and the second event was rated (M_s = 5.1).

The DST is a 1,609 km (1,000 mi) long transform fault that runs in a mostly north-south direction from the northern end of the Red Sea along the Jordan Rift Valley to the Taurus Mountains complex in southern Turkey. The left-lateral fault zone marks the boundary of the Arabian Plate and the Sinai-Levantine block and consists of multiple parallel faults.^[3] As the fault moves through Lebanon and Syria the fault trace follows a restraining bend and splits into several strands that include the Serghaya, Rachaya, and Roum faults, as well as the prominent Yammouneh fault.^[4]

The Roum fault runs for a length of 35 kilometers (22 mi) between the Hula basin the Awali river and is the westernmost strand of the fault system in that area. A paleoseismic trench investigation revealed that it may have been the source of the twin-shock event.^[5]

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