The 1999 İzmit earthquake (also known as the Kocaeli or Gölcük earthquake) was a 7.6 magnitude earthquake that struck northwestern Turkey on August 17, 1999, at about 3:02am local time. The event lasted for 37 seconds,[1] killing around 17,000 people[4] and leaving approximately half a million people homeless. Even though official sources consider casualties 17,000 people, non-official sources consider the casualties 35,000 people. The nearby city of Izmit was very badly damaged.