1693 Sicily earthquake

11 January 1693, about 13:30 GMT

On 11 January 1693, at approximately 13:30 GMT — about 21:00 under the local 'Italian hours' convention — the strongest shock of that January's sequence struck southeastern Sicily.

It was not the first. A damaging foreshock on 9 January had already frightened people out of their houses.

The mainshock devastated communities in the modern provinces of Catania, Syracuse and Ragusa.

The water at Augusta

Within minutes a destructive tsunami reached the eastern and southern Sicilian coast. At Augusta the sea first withdrew, grounding vessels; the returning water flooded the harbour district.

It killed people who had camped near the waterfront after the earlier shocks. Reported run-up at Augusta was about 15 m, and tsunami effects were recorded along roughly 300 km of coastline, from Messina to Marina di Ragusa.

The toll, and the volcano that was blamed

An official statistic compiled in May 1693 counted about 54,000 dead; later scholarship commonly gives more than 60,000 in eastern Sicily. Retrospective magnitude estimates are Mw 7.4 in the CPTI04 catalogue, with one EMS-based revision at 7.1.

In Malta and Gozo the shock caused widespread structural damage at EMS-98 intensity VII–VIII, and the Knights of St John formed a commission to inspect it. The Maltese historical catalogue records no direct fatalities there.

Reports of Etna's summit in flames circulated almost immediately. Historical catalogues of Etnean eruptions do not support an eruption connected to the disaster, and the fault that ruptured remains disputed.