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**1963 earthquake**
Date	July 26, 1963
Magnitude	6.1 Mw
Depth	6 kilometres (4 mi)
Epicenter location	42°10′N 22°40′E / 42.16°N 22.66°E
Countries/; regions affected	Yugoslavia (mainly present-day Republic of Macedonia)
Casualties	1,000–1,100 killed; Other: 3,000–3,330 injured; 120,000–200,000 left homeless; 75–80% of city destroyed;

The 1963 Skopje earthquake (Macedonian: Скопски земјотрес 1963, transliterated Skopski zemjotres 1963) was an 6.1 moment magnitude earthquake which occurred in Skopje, SR Macedonia (present-day Republic of Macedonia) then part of the SFR Yugoslavia, on July 26, 1963 which killed over 1,070 people, injured between 3,000^[6] and 4,000^[7] and left between 120,000 to 200,000 people homeless. Between 75 and 80 percent of the city was destroyed.

[edit] Facts

The earthquake, which measured 6.1 on the moment magnitude scale^[1] (equivalent to 6.9 on the richter scale)^[5]^[4], occurred on July 26, 1963 at 4:17 am UTC^[2] (5:17 am local time)^[4]^[3] in Skopje, Socialist Republic of Macedonia, then part of SFR Yugoslavia (present-day Republic of Macedonia). The tremor lasted for 20 seconds^[4]^[5] and was felt mostly along the Vardar River Valley^[5].

[edit] Aftermath

Members of the US Army 8th Evacuation Hospital in Skopje, Yugoslavia, following the earthquake in 1963. The unit was flown to the disaster site to provide medical care to the victims

Within days after the earthquake took place, 35 nations requested that the United Nations General Assembly place relief for Skopje on their list of agendas. Relief, in the form of money, medical, engineering and building teams and supplies was offered from 78 countries ^[3]. The famous artist Pablo Picasso donated his painting Head of a Woman (1963), which was exhibited in the new post-earthquake Museum of Contemporary Art[1] [2] [3] in Skopje.

[edit] Quotes

Following the earthquake, Josip Broz Tito, then-president of Yugoslavia, sent a message of condolences to the Socialist Republic of Macedonia:

“

Together with all the peoples of Yugoslavia we will endeavour to mitigate the misfortune that has befallen your republic.

”

Alberto Moravia, one of the leading Italian novelists:

“

Skopje must not remain merely a newspaper report of its first sufferings, but must be the responsibility of all of us, of all men who today or tomorrow, through some similar new catastrophe, may become Skopians.

”

Jean-Paul Sartre, one of the leading figures of the French philosophy and literature:

“

Skopje is not a film, not a thriller where we guess the chief event. It is a concentration of man’s struggle for freedom, with a result which inspires further struggles and no acceptance of defeat.

”

.

[edit] Gallery

Symbol of the earthquake: The Old Railway Station in Skopje. The clock stopped at 5.17 on July 26, 1963. Today the building is used by the Museum of the City of Skopje (Muzej na grad Skopje).	Monument dedicated to the victims of the earthquake, near the Old Railway Station	New settlements in Skopje donated by: USA, UK, West Germany, Mexico, the Scandinavian countries, Switzerland, ČSSR, Poland, the World Council of Churches etc.	Charity concert by Henryk Szeryng for the victims of the Skopje earthquake, Reims, France, November 26, 1963
Newspaper clips: Help for the citizens of Skopje from Roosendaal, Netherlands, August 8, 1963