Abstract:

The Van region is located between 37.50º-40.00ºN latitudes and 41.100º-45.00ºE longitudes. This region occupies an area on Alp Mountains belt extending from Azores island to Indonesia region with its of the geological structure and morphotectonic features. All the earthquakes, occurring in the area, are under the effects of the active faults. Here the active faults are the most important evidences for the subject under discussion and the epicenter coordinates support the evidences. The mentioned area occupies a place, especially on the first and second seismic zones of Turkey, but it also covers in certain areas the third and the fourth seismic zones.  In this paper, firstly, it is proposed to investigate the earthquake activities collected from various record books (A.D. 11-2011). Secondly, the Gumbel and Gutenberg-Richter methods are applied to the annual maximum earthquake data which covers the period of 1910-2010 and the magnitudes are equal to or greater than 4. Finally, relatively high risk values are found for this period. For example: The annual mean maximum magnitude is 4.7 M and annual mean seismic risk is 60.3 % in the mentioned area. Key words: Van, Earthquake, Seismic risk, Seismicity.