“I have never felt anything like this in the 40 years I have lived here,” Erdem, a resident of Gaziantep, said to Reuters as an earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale rocked Turkey on Monday morning.
Turkey is struggling as the strong quake struck near the city of Gaziantep at a depth of 17.9 km, leaving a massive trail of destruction — multiple buildings have been destroyed and over 500 people have died, with the toll only expected to rise. As per the last count, at least 284 people have died and more than 2,300 were injured in Turkey, according to the country’s Vice President Fuat Oktay. In Syria, at least 237 people were killed and 639 injured, Syrian state-run news agency SANA reported, citing a health ministry official.
Read all the live updates from the Turkey earthquake HERE
More than 1,000 search and rescue volunteers have been pressed into action, with Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan assuring the people of the necessary aid and speaking to the governors of Adana, Malatya, Gaziantep, Diyarbak?r, Hatay, Ad?yaman, Osmaniye and ?anl?urfa — the cities where maximum damage has been caused — to discuss the situation.
The quake also prompted other countries to release aid and extend help, with United States assuring Turkiye of assistance. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan tweeted that the US was “profoundly concerned by today’s destructive earthquake in Turkiye and Syria,” and was “ready to provide any and all needed assistance”.
This destructive quake isn’t the first for Turkey and according to Stephen Hicks, a research fellow in seismology at Imperial College London, had the same magnitude as the one that killed about 30,000 people in December 1939 in northeast Turkey.
As Turkey struggles to pick up the pieces after this quake, we take a closer look at Turkey’s past quakes and why they are so destructive.
Turkey’s ‘rocking’ history
Turkey has had its fair share of earthquakes, causing untold destruction and misery. In December of 1939, a magnitude-8.0 earthquake struck near the eastern city of Erzincan. The quake, believed to be the second-most powerful one of the country, damaged some 1,16,720 buildings and killed over 20,000 people. Very cold weather conditions only hampered the rescue operations.
Following the 1939 quake, the country witnessed another five from 1942 to 1967, and then came the big one of August 1999. On the unfortunate day of 17 August 1999, a 7.4-strong quake struck close to the northeastern city of Izmit, causing monumental damage. Tens of thousands died, some 250,000 were left homeless. And billions of dollars’ worth of damage was caused to Turkey’s industrial heartland.
Graphic: Pranay Bhardwaj
Istanbul, a city of more than seven million people about 80 kilometres northwest of the epicenter, was violently shaken. Although the heart of the megalopolis remained intact, the quake destroyed several dozen buildings in Avcilar.
The quake which had flattened Izmit and its surrounding cities, also set the ground for the ‘next big one’ which came in the form of the October 2011 quake in the Van province. According to reports, the 23 October temblor killed more than 130 people and flattened thousands of structures in Erci?, Van, and other nearby towns. The earthquake was felt as far away as Jordan and southern Russia.
Also read: From Turkey to Nepal, the deadliest earthquakes that rocked the world
In 2020, the country was once again struck by two different earthquakes — one in January and another in October — killing 22 and 24 people respectively. In fact, in 2020, the country’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority recorded more than 33,000 earthquakes, including 322 of magnitude 4.0 and higher.
Turkey, a hot spot for quakes
There’s a popular saying in Turkey — co?rafya kaderdir. This roughly translates to “geography is destiny”. And it perfectly describes Turkey’s proneness to earthquakes. It is said that around 98 per cent of Turkey is prone to earthquakes, while about a third of the country is at high risk, including the areas around the major cities of Istanbul and Izmir and the region of East Anatolia.
But what makes the Middle East country so prone to quakes?
Most of Turkey is located on the Anatolian tectonic plate, which sits between two major plates, the Eurasian and African, and a minor one, the Arabian. As the larger African and Arabian plates shift, Turkey is being literally squeezed, while the Eurasian plate impedes any northward movement. Thus, Turkey sits on several fault lines.
Experts, according to an ABC News report, state that the North Anatolian fault is almost like a buttoned shirt being pulled apart. When one button pops off, that transfers the stress to the next button, making it the one likely to pop off next.
Syrian citizen search through the wreckage of a collapsed building, in Azmarin town, in Idlib province north Syria. People woke up to strong tremors on Monday morning. AP
The North Anatolian fault line — where the Anatolian and Eurasian plates meet — is said to be the most devastating of fault lines and runs from south of Istanbul to northeastern Turkey. At the same time, the East Anatolian fault line stretches some 650 kilometres from eastern Turkey’s highlands to the Mediterranean, from where it turns southward and meets the northern end of the Great Rift system separating the African and Arabian plates.
It is owing to these reasons that Turkey is repeatedly traumatised by earthquakes and the Turks are taught how to behave during earthquakes from a young age.
Death and destruction
But despite the ubiquitous danger, Turkey remains woefully unprepared to face earthquakes. Several buildings, including those in Istanbul — the country’s most modern and developed city — are not built in line with earthquake safety standards. Many houses are constructed without supervision and with poor quality building materials, despite laws in place.
And it’s not just poor buildings that make Turkey’s earthquakes so deadly.
Also read: Quake Science: Is Delhi due for a really big one?
The country’s overall poverty is also a factor for the large number of deaths during quakes. The country’s inflation stood at 64.2 per cent in December 2022, after hitting a 24-year high in October.
The constant fighting between the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or the PKK, and the Turkish Army has also forced many villagers to flee their homes and lands and resettle in cities and towns in makeshift accommodations. These houses don’t stand a chance when a quake strikes. Hence, causing more devastation.
Rescue teams try to reach trapped residents inside collapsed buildings in Adana, Turkey after the powerful quake hit the country. More than 1,000 search and rescue volunteers have been pressed into action. AP
There’s also the problem of overcrowding owing to the massive influx of refugees from the Syrian border. According to the United Nations High Commissioner of Refugees, Turkey is home to 3.6 million Syria refugees the highest in the world from that conflict.
As they pour into Turkey, living space has become sparse, owing to which safety standards are forgotten and they are simply satisfied with a roof over their heads.
The earthquake will now only add to the country’s cost-of-living crisis that has already plunged millions into financial hardship.
With inputs from agencies
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