Turkey on Monday morning woke up to a 7.8-magnitude earthquake that brought multiple buildings crashing down and stoking fear and panic among residents. The Associated Press initially reported 31 people had died in the powerful quake, while AFP and other news reports had pegged the toll at 17. At the latest count, the toll had risen to 90, with officials fearing the fatality count to further rise as more people are pulled out from debris of collapsed structures.
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The United States Geological Survey said the 7.8 magnitude tremor struck at 04:17 local time at a depth of 17.9km (11 miles) near the city of Gaziantep. Turkish interior minister Suleymon Soylu said that the quake was so powerful that 10 cities of Gaziantep, Kahramanmara?, Hatay, Osmaniye, Adiyaman, Malatya, Sanliurfa, Adana, Diyarbakir and Kilis had suffered damage.
The quake struck while residents were asleep and unprepared for the impact. Videos shared on social media show dozens of collapsed buildings, while frightened residents huddled on the darkened streets amid the chaos.
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that search and rescue teams had been immediately rushed to the areas hit by the quake and assured residents and local authorities of all assistance. He also wrote on Twitter, “We hope that we will get through this disaster together as soon as possible and with the least damage.”
The earthquake was so strong that its tremors were felt as far as Syria, Lebanon and Cyprus. “I was writing something and just all of a sudden the entire building started shaking and yes I didn’t really know what to feel,” Mohamad El Chamaa, a student in the Lebanese capital Beirut, told BBC, adding, “I was right next to the window so I was just scared that they might shatter. It went on for four-five minutes and it was pretty horrific. It was mind-blowing.”
This earthquake evoked memories of previous ones that have caused extensive damage and claimed the lives of millions. Let’s take a look at the deadliest ones in history.
Afghanistan, June 2022
A 6.1-strong earthquake rocks eastern Afghanistan, killing at least 1,000 people and injuring more than 1,500. The temblor jolted several districts of Paktika province, destroying or partially damaging at least 4,500 homes.
Haiti, August 2021
Early in the morning of 14 August 2021, a 7.2 magnitude earthquake rocked Haiti, causing hospitals, schools and homes to collapse, claiming hundreds of lives, and leaving communities in crisis.
It was considered the worst disaster to strike Haiti since the 2010 earthquake. After the quake, UNICEF estimated more than half a million children were affected.
Nepal, April 2015
Wednesday’s earthquake brought up memories of the 2015 quake — which was the country’s worst since 1934 and also considered among the worst ever natural disasters. A 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck Nepal, flattening 98 per cent of all homes in hillside villages.
More than 8,000 people died, 21,000 others were injured and the mountainous country lost 80 per cent of its temples and historic structures in both Bhaktapur and Kathmandu Durbar Squares.
Graphic: Pranay Bhardwaj
Pakistan, September 2013
More than 800 people were killed after a 7.7-magnitude quake flattened entire villages in Pakistan’s remote south-western province of Balochistan, mainly in the district of Awaran.
The earthquake was felt in major cities across Pakistan, including Karachi, Rawalpindi/Islamabad, Larkana, and Lahore. The quake was also felt in Delhi, India, where some buildings shook, and Muscat, Oman — 800 kilometres from the epicenter — where mild tremors shook tables and cabinets.
Japan, March 2011
The 2011 T?hoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan is considered to be the second worst earthquake of the 21st century, with a magnitude as high as 8.9. Over 19,000 people were reported dead or missing, with another 6,000 left injured.
The tremor generated a massive tsunami along the Japanese coast and triggered the world’s biggest nuclear disaster — Fukushima nuclear power plant — since Chernobyl in 1986.
File image of disaster in Kesennuma, Miyagi prefecture, Japan after the powerful quake struck. AFP
Haiti, January 2010
A catastrophic 7.0-strong quake struck around the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince on 12 January 2010, killing 2,30,000 people and causing untold damage and destruction. The quake was so powerful that neighbouring countries such as Cuba and Venezuela also felt the tremors.
It is still one of the top most devastating natural disasters ever recorded in the world. Hundreds of thousands of people were displaced in Haiti as a result.
China, May 2008
Over 87,000 people died in China’s deadly 2008 earthquake, and an estimated 10 million were left homeless. The 7.9-magnitude disaster struck the mountainous Sichuan Province in western China, destroying millions of buildings and causing an estimated $86 billion worth of damage.
Nearly 10,000 children died in schools — trapped under rubble when the buildings collapsed — leading to public outcry and a government investigation that found that as many as 20 per cent of primary schools may have been shoddily constructed and unsafe.
Kashmir, May 2005
On 8 October 2005, an earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale, the quake killed 75,000 and left millions more homeless. The remote, mountainous terrain compounded problems for rescue and recovery efforts, as crews struggled to reach the injured.
File image of Kashmiri labourers working on a collapsed house in the October 2005 earthquake. AFP
Afghanistan, May 1998
There were two earthquakes that struck the Hindu Kush region in Afghanistan in this year, just a few months apart. The first quake in February in the province of Takhar killed around 2,300 people (some estimate the casualties at 4,000). The second quake of 6.6 magnitude struck the same region in May, killing around 4,700 people.
Chile, May 1960
Chile holds the record of having the strongest-ever quake, with a reading of 9.5 on the Richter scale. A tsunami of 30 feet eliminated entire villages. Death toll reports varied widely, but many settled on the 2,000 mark.
Japan, September 1923
On a pleasant afternoon on 1 September 1 1923, an earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale sent shockwaves through the Tokyo-Yokohama metropolitan area. The violent tremors left few buildings habitable and prompted a tsunami that surged up to 40 feet high.
The earthquake was followed by fires and tornados. At the end of all the destruction, officials put the death count at 1,43,000. Officials also said that 90 per cent of Yokohama’s buildings were reportedly damaged or in ruins and some two-fifths of Tokyo’s had been destroyed.
With inputs from agencies
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