November 2

In the early hours of November 24, 1976, a shallow, powerful earthquake struck between the districts of Çaldıran and Muradiye in Van Province, eastern Turkey. The Mw ≈ 7.3 (Ms reported slightly higher) strike‑slip event leveled many villages of unreinforced masonry and adobe, killed thousands, and left survivors to face winter nights in the open while aftershocks and damaged roads slowed rescue efforts.

On November 18, 1929, a powerful earthquake on the continental slope south of Newfoundland triggered a massive submarine landslide that severed undersea telegraph cables and sent a tsunami racing into the fishing communities of the Burin Peninsula. In minutes, wharves, boats and homes were swept away; about 28 people died and many more were left homeless. The event became a landmark case showing that submarine slides — not just fault motion — can produce deadly near‑field tsunamis.

On 25 November 1917, during the East African Campaign of the First World War, Lieutenant Colonel Paul von Lettow‑Vorbeck’s Schutztruppe crossed the Rovuma (Ruvuma) River into Portuguese East Africa and attacked the poorly supplied Portuguese outpost at Ngomano. The German surprise assault captured weapons, ammunition and supplies that allowed Lettow‑Vorbeck to continue his mobile campaign into 1918.