The earthquake devastated Turkey and Syria

A 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck southern Turkey near the Syrian border, followed by a 7.5-magnitude earthquake nine hours later. Thousands of casualties have been reported, with more expected.

Written by the Temblor editorial team (@temblor)

Updated Feb 9 at 12 PM PST. This story will not be updated further.

Shortly after 4 am local time (1:17 UTC) on February 6, a strong 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck southern Turkey near the Syrian border. Soon after, a 6.7-magnitude aftershock struck near the main shock. Several hours later, an earthquake measuring 7.5 on the Richter scale struck the area. The relatively shallow depth of the main shock – roughly 20 kilometers – led to intense shaking over a large area of ​​Turkey and Syria, as well as parts of Lebanon, Israel and Cyprus. As of February 9, the death toll has passed 20,000 with more expected. Aftershocks are ongoing and will continue to shake the region, making the situation on the ground even more precarious (for more information on aftershock forecasts, see here). Vibrating report with the Euro-Mediterranean Seismological Center (EMSC) and the US Geological Survey (USGS).

Map showing the location of a magnitude 7.8 earthquake.

The movement of the main shock earthquake was on the left side (whichever side of the fault you’re on, the other side moved to the left). This is consistent with the motion of the East Anatolian Rift, which has a slip rate of between 6 and 10 millimeters per year. The other major fault system in Turkey, the North Anatolian Fault, is a right lateral system. Caught in a tectonic vice, central Turkey is wedged westward between these two great faults, extending into the Mediterranean Sea, towards Crete. This happens because the Arabian plate is pushing Turkey north.

The 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck the East Anatolia fault. Historically, this area, including this fault, has been very seismically active. The arrows give a sense of the movement of the bug. The color gradation gives how much (within 100km) it is likely to last a lifetime. Cities of Addiman and Malaya, where strong shaking was first reported, are outlined in lime green.

Early “Did You Feel It?” Reports indicate that the strongest tremor occurred northeast of the epicenter, near the cities of Addiman and Malaya. This indicates that the rupture spread hundreds of kilometers to the northeast.

USGS interactive map. Credit: USGS

Thousands of people have been confirmed dead in Turkey and Syria. Thousands of buildings have collapsed across the region and rescue workers are searching through the rubble for survivors. The USGS’s PAGER system, which estimates the death toll and economic loss from earthquakes, indicates that the death toll is likely to rise with economic losses in Turkey alone in the billions. The destruction is widespread and only beginning to be revealed.

Note the nearby aftershock of magnitude 6.7 that struck ten minutes after the main earthquake.

The epicenter of the February 6 earthquake was near the city of Gaziantep in Gaziantep Province. The province, along with the neighboring province of Kahramanmaras, currently hosts hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees. It is cold and raining or snowing in most parts of the region, complicating matters for those whose homes have been destroyed or endangered. Authorities are warning residents not to return to damaged housing.

About nine hours after the 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck, it was followed by a 7.5-magnitude earthquake, about 95 kilometers to the northeast. The site “places it in the vicinity of” a triple junction, where three plates meet: the Anatolian, Arabian, and African plates, according to the USGS. It lies within the same fault zone as the magnitude 7.8 quake, but preliminary analysis indicates that it struck a different fault line, according to the USGS.

Because it followed a larger earthquake in the same general area, the 7.5-magnitude event could be considered an aftershock or possibly an “emergency event,” according to Ross Stein, CEO of Temblor (which publishes Temblor Earth News), who provided analysis from the event to several news outlets, including In that BBC News. This means that had the 7.8-magnitude earthquake not occurred, Stein said, it is unlikely that the 7.5-magnitude quake would have occurred either. This is because it calculates that the first event promoted the second. Read Stein and colleagues’ preliminary analysis here.

About nine hours after the 7.8-magnitude earthquake, a 7.5-magnitude earthquake struck north of the main tremor, which measured 7.8 on the Richter scale.

The Temblor RealtimeRisk model indicates that the earthquake added pressure to adjacent portions of the East Anatolia Rift Zone, with particularly strong increases to the northeast of the main fault. “Transmitted stress brings faults closer to failure, and so are likely the sites of large aftershocks,” Stein said. See here for more information on Coulomb stress transfer, the process by which a seismic event adds stress to another part of the fault or other fault.

The Coulomb stress map, which indicates how stress is transmitted from one fault to another or one part of a fault to another based on a recent earthquake, indicates that the earthquake added stress to adjacent portions of the East Anatolian Rift Zone, with strong increases to the northeast of the main shock. .

One of the reasons earthquakes like these are so destructive—aside from the enormous size and shallow depth, and regardless of the fact that they struck a densely populated area—is that the buildings in the area were not built to withstand large earthquakes. As Haluk Aydoğan, a professor of seismology at Istanbul Technical University, Turkey, wrote in a previous story for Temblor Earth News: “We are watching with sadness how stone masonry and adobe structures in rural areas are weakening, and so-called multi-storey concrete buildings are being demolished in cities.” “.

For more previous Temblor Earth News coverage of seismic events in Turkey, including an assessment of the November 2022 earthquake in western Turkey, see here.

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