The Kahramanmaraş earthquake, one of the most powerful earthquakes in the modern era, with a magnitude of 7.8, struck on February 6, 2023 the city of Kahramanmaraş and spread towards the southern states of Turkey and the cities of northern Syria and most of its provinces.
This earthquake resulted in more than 7,000 dead and more than 50,000 injured, with great damage in the cities and villages that it hit. It is the strongest of its kind since 1999.
active seismic area
Turkey is located in an earthquake-active area within the Alpine belt, which is an area that extends for more than 15,000 km, starting from Java, Sumatra and India, passing through the Himalayas, then the mountains of Iran, the Caucasus, and Anatolia, ending in the Mediterranean Sea. 17% of the world’s largest earthquakes occur in this belt.
Turkey is surrounded by 3 tectonic plates, which are the Eurasian plate in the north, the African one in the south, and the Arab one in the east, and 3 active seismic lines of faults are active in it:
- North Anatolian Fault: It passes through the areas facing the Black Sea and reaches from the west to the Sea of Marmara, and its length is 1350 km.
- Western Anatolia Rift: It is the most mobile fault and passes through the Sea of Marmara and the Aegean Sea.
- The East Anatolian Rift extends between the Anatolian and Arabian plates. It is the second largest seismic line in Turkey with a length of 530 km. It starts from the city of Hatay and ends in the city of Mush.
The eastern and northern faults meet in two towns, Mush and Bingol.
Cracks are fractures that occur in the rocks of the earth’s crust that lead to slips that push the rock slabs along the fault lines, which leads to an increase in pressure and the sliding of one of the rock slabs and the exit of huge energy in the form of an earthquake.
History of earthquakes in the area
This earthquake was preceded by a group of earthquakes that occurred in recent decades, namely:
- In November 2022, an earthquake occurred in northwestern Turkey, with a magnitude of 6.1 on the Richter scale, injuring 50 injured, and some limited damage.
- October 2022 A magnitude 7 earthquake occurred in the Aegean Sea, killing 114 people and injuring more than a thousand others.
- February 2020 A 5.7-magnitude earthquake occurred in an area on the borders of Turkey and Iran, killing 9 people and injuring 51.
- January 2020 A 6.7-magnitude earthquake struck the Elazig region, killing 40 people.
- October 2011 A 7.2-magnitude earthquake occurred in Van Province near the Iranian border, killing 138 people and injuring at least 350 people.
- In 2011, an earthquake occurred in the city of Van, killing more than 500 people.
- In March 2010, a 6-magnitude earthquake occurred in eastern Turkey, killing 51 people and severely damaging 4 villages.
- The Izmit earthquake that occurred in 1999 is one of the largest earthquakes in Turkey today, with a magnitude of 7.6 and killing 17,000 people and injuring more than 43,000 others.
Going back historically to the beginning of the twentieth century, an earthquake occurred in 1939 in the city of Urzigan, killing more than 33 thousand people, and it is considered one of the worst earthquakes in the modern history of Turkey.
different predictions
The Kahramanmaraş earthquake was not surprising to geologists, as several warnings were issued by them of possible earthquakes that they expected to be devastating, but the warnings targeted Istanbul due to its population density. Some forecasts appeared a few days before the earthquake, warning of its occurrence in the Kahramanmaraş region.
On January 30, 2023, the SSGEOS earthquake forecasting center warned of expectations of a strong earthquake in the region.
In addition, Professor Naji Gurur, a specialist in seismology, warned in several television interviews of the possibility of severe seismic movements extending over the southern Anatolian rift, justifying his warnings that the northern Anatolian rift has had moderate-intensity earthquakes in recent years, which weakens the possibility of severe earthquakes occurring in it. As for the areas located on the outskirts of the southern rift, the possibility of severe earthquakes is high due to the accumulation of energy between the tectonic layers at the seismic rift.
Earlier, a study issued by Istanbul University warned of a strong earthquake in the Malatya rift area, branching from the southern Anatolian rift, because the region had not witnessed violent earthquakes in 1,500 years.
A Turkish scientist also confirmed that the history of the Kahramanmaraş region and the regions of Elazig Province repeatedly recorded severe seismic disasters.
Kahramanmaras earthquake
The earthquake occurred on Monday, February 6, 2023, at 1:17 a.m. GMT, in the state of Kahramanmaraş, and spread to most of the southern Turkish states, namely: Gaziantep, Hatay, Adana, Malatya, Diyarbakir, Sanliurfa, Osmaniye, Adyman, and Kilis.
In Syria, the earthquake struck the northern Syrian region and the governorates of Aleppo, Idlib, Hama, Latakia and Tartous, and some earthquakes reached the capital Damascus and a number of other governorates, and the effects of the earthquake reached Lebanon, Palestine and Iraq.
The magnitude of the earthquake was 7.8 degrees according to the Richter scale, and it was centered at a depth of 17.9 kilometers below the surface of the earth, at the eastern Anatolian rift, and as a result of the earthquake, waves were sent to the northeast, causing severe damage in many areas.
The Kahramanmaraş earthquake is one of the most damaging and deadly earthquakes in the period from 2013 to 2022.
The aftermath of the Kahramanmaraş earthquake
The Kahramanmaraş earthquake was followed by another earthquake on the same day at 10:24 am GMT, which hit the same area again, with a magnitude of 7.6 according to the Richter scale, but its epicenter was closer to the surface of the earth, as it occurred at a depth of only 10 kilometers.
On the first day of the earthquake, more than 312 aftershocks occurred, some of which reached 6 degrees on the Richter scale.
earthquake damage
The earthquake killed more than 7,000 people, in addition to 35,000 injured. Disaster areas were announced in Turkey and northern Syria. The World Health Organization stated that the number of people affected by the earthquake may reach 23 million in the two countries together.
The earthquake led to the fall of a huge number of buildings over the heads of its inhabitants, especially as it occurred at dawn at a time when most people were in their homes, and was accompanied by a snow storm and bad weather conditions, and the infrastructure was damaged in many of the cities affected by the earthquake in both Syria and Turkey.
The Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Authority confirmed that the destruction affected nearly 6,000 buildings, while the White Helmets organization in northern Syria confirmed that the damage affected nearly 750 buildings, between partial and total damage. As well as cracks in buildings and homes.
People witnessed the fall of residential buildings, cracked streets, cracked roads, and collapsed buildings with aftershocks. The earthquake destroyed entire neighborhoods in Hatay, Antioch, and Gaziantep in Turkey, as well as in Harem and Sarmada in northern Syria.
The Turkish government rushed to save the situation and help the people, so it opened hotels, halls, gyms, clubs and schools to receive the affected people, and allocated an initial budget of about 100 billion Turkish liras to deal with the crisis.
However, the situation in northern Syria was worse due to the continuation of the war between the regime forces and the armed opposition, and due to the lack of resources and the absence of the equipment needed to extract people from under the rubble and the small number of rescue teams, which makes the death toll likely to increase dramatically.
The earthquake led to the accumulation of corpses in hospitals and on the sidewalks, and mass graves were dug for the dead due to their large numbers.
Damage to historical places
The earthquake caused severe damage to historical buildings and places in both Turkey and Syria, including:
- Historic Gaziantep Castle: The castle suffered great damage due to its proximity to the epicenter of the earthquake.
- Aleppo Citadel: The citadel was severely damaged and parts of the Ottoman mill fell in it, and the utilitarian walls were cracked and parts of them fell, and parts of the dome of the Ayyubid mosque fell, and the entrances and the facade of the Ottoman hospice were damaged.
- The National Museum in Aleppo: It suffered damages to some of the artifacts stored in the exhibition areas, and cracks and cracks occurred in the facade.
- The old city of Aleppo: It witnessed great damage and collapse of buildings and the fall of a number of minarets of historical mosques in Aleppo.
- Historical buildings in Hama: These buildings were damaged, parts of them fell, and their walls were exposed to cracks and cracks.
- Imam Ismail Mosque: It was damaged and the upper part of the minaret fell, and the facade of the mosque cracked.
Source : Al Jazeera + Al Jazeera + agencies + Websites